


The Boy of Your Dreams

by speedyvibraniumdevil



Series: Steve Harrington [1]
Category: Stranger Things - Fandom, steve Harrington - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Blood, Cussing, F/M, Fluff, Psychic!Reader - Freeform, Slow Burn, Talk of experimentation, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 11:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedyvibraniumdevil/pseuds/speedyvibraniumdevil
Summary: At Hawkins National Laboratory, Eleven was only one of eleven other children to endure experiments and gain abilities. You are number 9, and have the ability to see visions of the future. After escaping from the lab, and surviving a bit on your own, you get taken under the wing of Jim Hopper. And it’s when you return to Hawkins that you start to get strange visions, filled with strange aliens and a boy with a bat that you need to know.





	1. 009

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I was going to write about Season 3, but I guess I felt the need to start my Steve Harrington adventures with season 2 since it was the start of our love for him. He doesn’t really come out in this part, but he does in the next. I promise!

It was Fall 1984, almost a year since you entered the life of Hawkins Police Chief, Jim Hopper, the man who took you in with barely knowing anything about you, and the man who now saw you as a daughter.

Before then, was a life of pain and suffering, and then years of being lost and forgotten.

For as long as you can remember, you, and a group of kids were the subject of experimentation in a facility called Hawkins National Laboratory, a place kept secret from the rest of the world. 

It was because of these experiments that you all gained certain abilities that weren’t normal to humans, and every single one was unique to each child.

Yours, was the ability to see visions of the future as well as into other dimensions (the latter you didn’t find out until much later). Your powers didn’t allow you to see the immediate future constantly, as in seconds or minutes ahead, so you weren’t always aware of what everyone was going to say or do (Which, you became thankful for). It was less about the trivial, and more about major events in yours or other people’s lives that were in your radius.

Naturally, most of this happened spontaneously. It could happen at any time of day, but the strongest visions happened while you were asleep. You also came to learn, that under the right conditions, and proper concentration, you could be able to see the future whenever you liked. Or whenever Dr. Brenner, the man in charge of the operation, demanded it of you.

Needless to say, you were seen as a valuable asset to him.

However, one thing you made sure not to tell him about, was the major shit that was going to go down and allow the eleven of you to escape one way or another. And when that happened, when you managed to escape, it brought an end to years of experimentation and isolation.

By some odd twist of fate, you found yourself separated from them, and ended up alone. You were on the run for about a year or two, surviving however you could with the help of your powers, and the stealing you had to do. It wasn’t your proudest time, but you had to do what you had to do. Before you knew it, you found yourself back where you started, in Hawkins.

You’d blame fate, but you were just, quite literally, following your dreams. And in these dreams you saw a cabin in the woods, a police officer, and a little girl with the number, “011”, tattooed on her arm. As reluctant as you were to get back there, those visions called to you, as well as the idea of finding the girl that was number 11.

When you arrived at the cabin in oversized clothing, frizzy hair, and a pack where you kept your essentials, you knew to be careful of whatever abilities she might have. You had an idea of what they were, but had no clear clue. But, even though you came in peace, it didn’t stop her from thinking you a threat, and almost killing you with her telekinetic powers.

Amidst the altercation, the chief of police, Jim Hopper, arrived at the cabin with his gun raised, asking you who you were. When you managed to show them your tattoo, Eleven dropped her hold on you immediately, eyes wide with longing. It was then that you explained everything. Who you were, where you’ve been, and how you got here.

From then on, Hopper unofficially adopted you, just as he did with El. And although it was a slow start to open up and to trust Hopper, you eventually learned to love him and trust him with your life. 

Ever since, the three of you had become your own little family. You were older than El, so it became clear to you that you had to take the big sister role. In that cabin, you spent so much time together while in hiding from the rest of the world.

For your protection you had to stay inside all the time, since they were looking for a strange girl with El’s description, and Hopper wasn’t willing to risk you becoming a suspect too. It annoyed you to no end that you couldn’t go out, and it was so easy to go insane in there, especially after a year. Thankfully, you had El to have fun and spend the time with. It made things easier. 

You watched TV and movies together, listened to Hopper’s small music selection, played games together when he was home, and ate waffles (her favorite)

With the little words she was learning, she told you as much as she could about Hawkins and about the friends she made when they found her. Something bad clearly happened, but it seemed to be a sore subject for her to talk about, so you never pushed her to do so. Overall, to you they seemed like great kids, and you hoped to meet them one day.

With your return to Hawkins, you started having the strangest visions. What was strange was not only what they were about, but the fact that you had had some like that back at the lab when you were held prisoner. With strange creatures you had never seen before in your life, creatures that were clearly alien, as well as a world that was abandoned, dark, and its air was filled with something like ash. 

However, those never came true in your life, as you never saw them with your own two eyes, so you thought they were products of your own imagination. You thought that somehow you had dreamt them up.

But, these seemed…..different, _felt _different.

This time, you appeared in a whole different dimension. It was the same dimension from before, with the abandoned town and the ashes in the air. Except this time, past the pine trees, and beyond thick, red clouds, was a terrifying monster as tall as a skyscraper, looming over it all. It had many legs like a spider, it’s head, which came to a point, was moving, searching for something.

For a second you thought that it might just be your imagination again, that being so close to the facility again was triggering these dreams once more. But it felt real, way too real to just be a figment of your imagination. And it frightened you to your core.

It was the first of many times that you would see this very same thing.

What followed afterwards were visions like you always had, but of things and people you had never seen or met. 

You saw what looked like a large scar in a black void, with light like fire coming through it. You saw a dog-like creature with a face like a monstrous flower, eating a cat. You saw another boy with straight brown hair, standing in a field as a rush of black clouds consumed him. You saw hoards of those hounds, surrounding another boy with big hair and a bat with nails, when suddenly, he turned directly to you and told you to run. 

They were all ominous, but out of all of them, the one to stick with you the most was the last one, because it meant that in some shape or form, this was going to be happening to you. And whoever those strangers were, weren’t going to be strangers anymore in the future.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but you kept all of this from Hopper for the time being as you didn’t want to put him on edge even more. The man was already super overprotective over you and El, and you didn’t want to give him any other reason to keep you locked up in this cabin. Especially not when you were determined to find out who exactly these kids were, and where these monsters were from.

So, you decided to go out on a limb and ask Hopper to let you go out on your own.

“No,” he said plainly, with his arms crossed as he leaned against the porch of the cabin. You were outside so El couldn’t hear the two of you or try to chime in.

You scoffed, “That’s it? ‘No’? What do you mean, ‘No’?”

“I mean, No, you can’t go out. Anywhere. It’s dangerous. For both of you. You know this.”

You crossed your arms in an equal stance and raised an eyebrow, “You always say that, but nobody knows me in this town, Hop. Nobody knows that I have powers, which means I’m not connected to any of the bullshit that’s been going on - that you still refuse to tell me about by the way. There’s no reason for anyone to suspect me.”  
“Oh, really? There’s no reason for anyone to suspect anything about the random girl that just appears out of nowhere? You know this is a small town, right?”

“Fine. I’ll just tell people that I’m your niece or something from out of state and that I’m visiting for a bit. They have no reason to question that, or you, right? You’re the sheriff after all.”

“Nine….”

You pouted your lower lip dramatically and he snorted.

“Don’t ‘Nine’ me. Please? I’m going crazy in here, Hopper. And having one weirdo with powers trapped in a cabin, let alone two - teenagers by the way - is already a recipe for disaster. I promise I won’t get into any trouble or raise any suspicion at all.”

“So, what? I’m supposed to let you leave El in here all by herself?”

“I won’t be out all day, and I’ll be back before you know it. Besides, we both know that out of the three of us, she can take care of herself just fine.”

He stared you down for another minute, his mustache accentuating the frown he was fixing you with. It made no difference to you, however. You were used to this expression and it unfazed you. Even when he tried not to give away his emotions, you could tell when he was going to give in.

When he realized you weren’t going to break, he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Fine. FINE.”

You pumped your fists in victory.

“But,” he raised a finger at you, “Be back by 8, and I want you to radio in the second you do. Alright?”

“Alright.”

“Don’t tell a soul where you live or how you live with a little girl that nobody knows about. Not a single word. Okay? El’s supposed to be dead.”

“I know.”

“No boys, no drinking, no drugs, no partying. Nothing.”

“Yes, dad,” you said sarcastically, even though he was in fact the closest thing you’ve had to a father in your entire life.

“I mean it.”

“Okaaayyy,” you chuckled.

He nodded, as if trying to internally convince himself that this is a good idea. Suddenly he stopped and looked at you with eyes like slits.

“You already knew I was going to let you go out, didn’t you?”

You smirked at him and shrugged, “Guess you’ll never know.”

He shook his head, “You little shit.”

***

Hopper made sure to introduce you to Joyce Byers, a close and trusted friend of his who owned a shop downtown. She was a small, middle aged woman with fine brunette hair. Her eyes were the kindest you had ever seen on a person in your life. She also seemed familiar, but with the many faces you saw in your head, it was often hard to keep track.

“Joyce, this is my niece, Nina, from Chicago. Nina, this is Joyce.”

You wanted to snort at the name he came up with last minute. To anyone else it meant nothing, but to you it showed just how much effort he put into thinking that one through considering how close it was to your real name.

You stuck your hand out for Joyce to shake it, but instead she took you in her arms for a hug. It shocked you, not in a bad way, but in a way that reminded you how unused to physical affection you were. After getting past the initial surprise, you smiled at how nice it felt. You couldn’t help but wonder how lucky her kids must be.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Nina!”

When she pulled away she was smiling sweetly and then looked at Hopper.

“I didn’t know you had a niece, Hop.”

“Well, you know me. Not much for talking about myself.”

“How old are you?” She asked.

“17.”

“Oh, so you’re in high school?”  
“Just graduated, actually. Decided to take a year off before college and spend some time with my favorite uncle,” you lied, and played it up a little. When Joyce wasn’t paying attention, Hop shook his head at you.

“Oh, how sweet!” she exclaimed. “Well, Nina. If you’re ever downtown and you need anything, don’t hesitate to stop by. I’ll be happy to help.”

“That’s precisely why I brought her to you, Joyce. She’s a city girl and doesn’t know anything or anyone in this town, so I figured it’d be good for her to know somebody.”

“Of course!”

Hopper left you with her to answer a call from the department, which surprised you. If he left you just like that, it must mean he trusted this woman a lot, which brought you comfort. 

Joyce went about talking about how she and Hopper met, and how great of a cop he is. Then she talked about her kids, Jonathan and Will, and their friends, how friendly they were, what they were going to dress up as for Halloween, etc. 

Lastly, she mentioned how they liked to hang out at the arcade in the evening, and if you ever wanted to check it out, you could. Being that you had never been to one before, you figure it couldn’t hurt to do that later.

***

These outings were the perfect escape for you. Of course, you felt bad for El, who was all alone in that cabin while you were actually outside for one. But on account that too many people knew her face and description, it was, in fact, way too dangerous for her to be doing any of this. Even if it drove her crazy.

Besides, you promised to bring her home more waffles, games, and any other snacks that she wanted.

By Joyce’s recommendation, you went to the arcade to check it out, and it was there that you found what you were looking for, by accident.

While wandering through the many machines with various games, you came across a group of excited middle schoolers that looked incredibly familiar. Or at least one of them did.

There was a boy with black, wavy hair, and a green jacket, a boy with dark skin and a khaki jacket, a boy with long curly hair and a hat, and a boy with a straight brunette hair and a striped shirt.

Upon seeing the last boy’s face, sad recognition hit you. It was him, it was the boy that was being eaten away by the smoke.

They were playing a game called Dig Dug, so you went to the machine behind them and started playing a game. Well, you weren’t really putting too much effort into playing, but more so listening to what they were saying, which was excited game talk.

Suddenly,the boys started freaking out behind you, saying something about, “MadMax” when suddenly someone tapped you on the shoulder, saying,

“Hey!”

You turned around to find the curly haired boy standing right in front of you, with his friends looking at you too. You looked at each and every one of them with questioning eyes.

“Are you Mad Max?”

“What?”

“Are you Mad Max?” he repeated.

You looked past him, to the machine they were just playing at. On the screen was a list of scores, and at the top was someone named, MadMax. Apparently, it wasn’t any of them, and they were offended.

His friend with the black hair smacked him in the arm. “Of course she’s not, you idiot. Girls don’t play video games.” He then looked at you apologetically. “No offense.”

“None taken. Although I am in an arcade, and was playing this game just now, so that kind of proves you wrong. Doesn’t it.”

The curly haired boy smacked him back and you chuckled.

“So, are you?”

You shook your head, “No, I’m not Mad Max, or whatever. This is actually my first time at this place, so I couldn’t be, anyway.”

“I knew I hadn’t seen you before!” he exclaimed.

“Are you new here?” the dark skinned boy asked.

You nodded, “Yeah, I’m actually Jim Hopper’s niece. My name is Nine-Nina. My name is Nina.”

“Oh nice! I didn’t know Hopper had a niece! My name is Dustin!” the curly boy said.

Consecutively, the other boys introduced themselves. Mike, Lucas, and Will.

You were barely taking in their names when they got distracted by somebody behind you. They started badgering him about who Mad Max was, which they were clearly intrigued by. Whoever they were, they were threatening their top score, which amused you to no end.

You were roped into their conversation, laughing to yourself at their shenanigans, when you had a feeling. You looked around at the boys and noticed that one of them was missing. You looked around everywhere and saw him, Will, outside the arcade, looking up at the sky.

You peeled yourself away from the group of kids, and went outside to go check on Will Byers. The cool autumn air hit you as you opened the door and you shivered. The closer you got to Will, the clearer you saw his facial expression.

He looked terrified. You looked up at the night sky, but it was empty save for the stars and the moon.

You walked up to him tentatively.

“Hey, are you okay?” you asked him, while resting a hand on his shoulder.

When you made contact with it, a headache hit you like a slap, and a vision overcame you. Once again, you were in that other world with the ashes and the red clouds. Except this time, Will was with you, and he was looking right up at it.

Your blood ran cold, “What is that?”

Will looked up at you with wide eyes. “You see it too?”

Before you could answer, another strike of pain hit you and more visions came. A lot of them were the same as before, resurfacing, but there were new ones too.

You saw Dustin, holding a small alien creature his hands, much like the big one that had surrounded you before. And then you saw that same creature, grow larger and larger. You saw that boy who told you to run, except you were in the back seat of a car, and he was unconscious with his head in your lap. You saw Hopper, in a dark tunnel, covered in vines that were strangling him. And then you saw El, her hair slicked back as she held her hand up to attack something.

The pain and the visions were there in a flash and then just like that, they were gone, and you were back in the parking lot of the arcade, stumbling backwards. Your chest was rising and falling fast with your quick breathing. Will was in the same state.

He looked back at you, his expression one of confusion and fear. 

_What the hell just happened? That’s never happened before. _You had never shared a vision with someone before.

Behind you, the door opened and Mike called out for his friend. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

He didn’t say a thing, and neither did you, and to eliminate any chance of questions, you ran. You backed away, and ran back to the cabin to process what had just happened.


	2. Sh*t Happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you tell Hopper what you saw, and have a vision that leads you to a boy with big hair.

You stared across at the empty desk that belonged to Hopper. It was littered with most things you find on a desk: papers, files, pens, staplers, a typewriter. Your eyes scanned every single item, more out of boredom and to have something to look at while you waited more than anything else.**  
**

This was the first time you had been to his office or to a police department in general. A long time ago, before you came back to Hawkins, and back when you would steal to survive…cops were people you ran from. So, you thought it was pretty ironic how one of the people you were closest to in your life, was the chief of police.

Unconsciously, you started cracking your knuckles, one by one. It was a nervous habit of many years, and right now you were anxious to talk to Hopper about what you had seen last night. 

He was always so busy doing his job that it was hard to get him to sit down for five minutes, especially when you wanted to talk to him alone and not when El was around. And considering the subject of the matter, you really needed that time.

Behind you, the door to his office opened, making you jump. You looked behind you, and there he was, your tall and burly father figure in his khaki sheriff’s uniform.

“Hey, kid,” he said it with sigh. He was tired already, you could tell.

“Hey, Hop.”

He took off his jacket as he went around to the other side of the desk and put it over the chair. He took off his hat and laid it on the surface of the table.

“Everything okay? Is El okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s fine.”

He lowered himself down on the desk, full of paternal worry.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. This isn’t about me.”

_At least not entirely._

He relaxed a little in his seat, and proceeded to light a cigarette to take the edge off. You gave him a disapproving look.

“You should really stop smoking those, they’re bad for you.”

He pointed the cigarette at your hands. “I’ll stop smoking when you stop cracking your fucking knuckles.”

You stopped moving your hands and put them on the arm rests.

“You know they’re not the same thing, Hop.”

“Is that what you came here for? To mother me and scold me about my habits?”

You sighed, “No.”

He waited patiently for you to explain, so you sat up straighter and put your hands on the edge of the desk.

“You know, Will Byers, right? Joyce’s son?”

He furrowed his brow, “Yeah. Why? Did you run into him to something?”

“At the arcade. Him and his little party.”

“Ah, the boys. They’re great. Pains in the ass, but great,” the smile dropped to a thin line and he fixed you with a stern look. “Why you asking?”

“Is he…okay? Did something happen to him…or? Because he seems…troubled.”

“Yeah, well….he did go missing last year. The whole town thought he was dead, they found a body in the lake that looked like him. Shit like that could do anything to a kid.”

“Where did they find him?”

He hesitated, and it put you a little on edge.

“Hop…”

“They found him at Hawkins National Laboratory.”

Your heart dropped and your eyes widened. Memories flashed across your mind, more painful than any headache-induced vision you’ve ever had.

Your voice was a whisper, “What did they do to him. Was it Brenner? Was it them? Did they-”

“Easy, kid. It wasn’t them, okay? It was just a coincidence that he was there. He went through some rough shit. Joyce was an emotional wreck, so was Jonathan and his friends. What matters now is that we got him back and that he’s safe now.”

With a frown on your face you looked back and forth between his eyes, trying to read him. You didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that what he was saying wasn’t entirely true. If it was, then how was it possible that you and Will saw the same vision? There was no way nothing happened to him while he was gone.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” you said.

He sat back and made a sound of exasperation.

“Since you clearly know everything, Nine. Please, enlighten me.”

“When I was at the arcade, I saw something.”

He sat up again, “A vision?”

You opened your mouth to say it, but hesitated. You weren’t sure why. Maybe you thought he wouldn’t believe you, or maybe you could hardly believe it yourself.

“Nine…” he said warningly.

“I don’t know what I saw.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I saw something…but I don’t know what it was. It was like a vision, but it wasn’t.”

“What did it look like?”

You described what you called “the other dimension” because that’s what it was to you. You described the thing in the sky that terrified you.

“It looked like…an alien. A giant alien in the sky. And Will was there, Hop, he saw it too. That’s never happened to me before.”

He looked scared now, more scared than you’ve seen him in a long time. He put down the cigarette and ran his hand over his face.

“Shit.”

“What’s going on?” you demanded.

He looked towards the door, as if checking to see if anyone was listening or about to come in. You could see the cogs moving in his mind as he gathered himself to either lie or explain himself. You hope it was the latter.

After an agonizing minute, he nodded, “Alright. There’s something you need to know.”

***

You walked out from the sheriff’s department, with your hands in your coat pockets and dazed look in your eye. You looked nowhere in particular as you walked through downtown Hawkins, since your mind focused on what was within. On the completely and utterly insane story that Hopper had just told you five minutes ago. 

He told you everything that happened last year with Will, as well as with a number of people from Hawkins, including him and El. Joyce, Jonathan, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Mike’s sister Nancy, Nancy’s boyfriend, and others. 

As it turned out, the place with the ashes was what they called, “The Upside Down.” It was, in fact, another dimension that was opened when you and the other 10 were at the laboratory. El was the one who opened it by demand of Dr. Brenner, and out of that dimension crawled out an extraterrestrial monster known as the Demogorgon.

It was in the Upside Down where Will disappeared, and at that same time Eleven came into the kids’ lives. She was the one who found Will in the other dimension, and saved them all from the Demogorgon in the end, and it was then that she disappeared, and her friends thought her dead. 

Ever since then, Will was never the same, and has been getting tested at the laboratory by some other scientist you didn’t know about. Apparently Hopper has been tagging along with Joyce to each visit, a thing he kept from you until now. So he know all about what was going on with Will. And it was because of the last visit, and his last conversation with Joyce, that he knew exactly what you were talking about.

Will was still suffering the affects of what happened to him, particularly, nightmares. Many of those nightmares being the same glimpse into the Upside Down that the two of you shared at the arcade. He described it at his last test, oddly leaving you out, and the scientist wasn’t much help about it.

You frowned, thinking about the poor boy you barely new. About the look of total and utter terror that he had when he saw that vision with you. You thought about the glimpses of the future that you’ve been having, about him being consumed by black smoke, and then him screaming as drips of sweat beaded down his face.

Whatever took him in the first place, was looking to come back for him and, as far as you knew, for everyone else.

***

“Don’t worry about it.” Hopper had said to you. “It’s a good thing you came to me when you did. I’ll handle this.”

He got out of his desk and started putting on his jacket and hat, the cigarette hung from his lips.

“And what am I supposed to do?” you asked, rising from your seat.

“Stay home. Protect El. If this thing really is back, then you’re both in danger.”

“You always say we’re in danger, how is this any different?”

“Because this is real, Nine. It’s real, and it’s dangerous, and it could kill you.”

“But I can help! Please, let me help! El, too!”

“No. No, absolutely not,” he shook his head, “Stay out of it. The both of you. You don’t know shit about what you’re dealing with and she’s….no. Besides, you don’t exactly have the powers to defend yourself, Nine.”

“I know how to use a gun, you taught me,” you argued, “And I know more than you or anyone else in this town! I know what’s going to happen, Hop! You need me.”

“Thanks to you, I already know what’s going to happen too. Thank you very much, I’ll use that information wisely.”

You glared at him for being so patronizing. “Fuck you, let me help. I need to do something about this. I can’t keep sitting around.”

Your voice got higher and higher the angrier you got and it only pissed Hopper off even more.

“Nine-”

“You can’t order me around. You’re not even our real-”

He whirled around angrily, “What? Real what?!”

You clammed your mouth shut and your nostrils flared. You swore you felt steam come out of them.

_You’re not even our real dad._

_No, too far, Nine. Too far._

You stared each other down angrily. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut through it with a knife and the smell of cigarette smoke filled the room. Maybe you would’ve stayed there for hours had someone not come knocking at the door.

The two of you looked up, and found one of his deputies standing at the door way. He smiled apologetically, almost fearful when he saw the look on Hopper’s face. 

“Sorry, Chief, but it’s important.”

Hopper nodded, and then looked at you. You didn’t look as angry as before, but you sure felt it. You heart was beating a million miles a minute.

“I gotta do this. I’ll see you at home.”

You didn’t say any words of agreement, or even a noise. All you did was exhale sharply and push past him to get to the door. At the doorway, you stopped abruptly, only to shout back and say,

“Remember, 5:15.” In regards to coming back to the cabin to spend time with El. “Don’t be late. You promised.”

You didn’t bother to stay long enough for him to respond or give a nod of understanding.

***

Sometimes you wanted to punch Hopper square in the face with how bullheaded he was. Maybe it would knock some sense into him. You knew you could be the same way too, but you liked to think it was within reason. He was protective of you and El, sure, but there were times when he crossed a damn line. You were a teenager, but you had survived on your own for so long, you knew how to take care of yourself. So did El. 

How was it possible that after a year of living together, he still underestimated the both of you? He had no right to make you sit around and do nothing. Not when something like this was happening.

Your head started to hurt, signaling an incoming vision. There were four of them, and they came in quick, short bursts.

You saw a bunch of kids, running around town in costumes, holding bags of candy. You saw Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in a Ghostbusters costumes, Mike was holding Will. You saw the name of a street, “Maple St.” Lastly, you saw the boy who was holding the baseball bat, except this time he was standing in front of a house where a party was going on. He looked at you and said, “Nice horns.”

You reached for a lamppost to steady yourself and recover from the sudden pain. When you gathered yourself, you tried making sense of the visions. All of them clearly seemed to be happening on a certain day.

Halloween. Tonight.

It wasn’t unheard of for you to get a vision a few hours before something happened, but it was rare. Whatever this other dimension was, it seemed to be affecting your abilities too. The vibration or the energy, whatever it was, you weren’t sure. But what you were sure of, was the fact that you now knew where the boy with the bat was going to be, which meant you’d be a step further into fighting whatever this thing was.

Ironic, how the same world that was trying to kill everyone, was giving you the power to be ahead of it.

Fine. If Hopper was going to deal with things his way, then you were going to deal with things your way. And if he was going to hide things from you and keep you in the dark, then you were going to do the same thing.

First stop: A Halloween Party.

***

You stopped by Joyce’s shop and scoured the costume section for something that wasn’t too crazy to wear for the party. Of course, it didn’t take you long because you before you knew it, you found a pair of red devil horns amongst them.

You couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. _“Nice horns,”_ he had said.

Perfect.

You grabbed those, a small red pitchfork the size of a spatula, and also a tube of deep red lipstick to have some kind of makeup to go with it. It was simple, but simple was all you could afford. After all, you wanted to be recognizable at least. 

At the clothing store down the street, you bought a red sweater and tucked it into your high waisted jeans. You weren’t sure if that paired with your black converse was exactly party attire, but it was the best you could do considering the circumstances. You even snagged a black belt to make it better.

Besides, you figured the costume and makeup would make up for it.

And personally, you thought it looked pretty decent. Better than the oversized clothing you used to have a long time ago, or the stuff Hopper used to give you. The man had zero fashion sense.

You put your jean jacket over it, and went about your way.

Back at the shop you had been hoping Joyce would be in, but in her place, there was an older gentleman in her place. She must have taken the day off for Halloween, to help the kids get ready and to spend time with Bob.

You had wanted to tell her something, anything that could help her, but maybe it was just the wrong time. 

_Next time_, you told yourself. _Next time._

You didn’t exactly have the address for the house, but you had a street name, which was enough to go by when you asked the cashier where it was.

You’ve never been to a party a day in your life, and you didn’t exactly know anyone who was going to be at this party. At least, not personally. But you weren’t worrying so much about that. No, the one thing you were looking forward to, was finally putting a name to yet another face you kept seeing.

You still didn’t know his name. All that you knew was what he looked like: Tall, fair skin, a full head of brunette hair, sweet brown eyes, and a look that you couldn’t quite place. 

You weren’t sure why he appeared so much in your visions, but you came to the conclusion that he had some kind of importance in what was about to happen in your life, and that maybe he could help. Not to mention that you were highly intrigued by this human being. 

When you got to the house, it was practically in the middle of the woods, as most of the houses were in Hawkins. There was yelling and whooping that you could hear from a distance away, as well as blaring pop music. There were so many people that some spilled onto the front yard, and almost all of them had a cigarette or a drink in hand.

You pushed past them to get inside, and whenever someone looked at you, you gave them a tight lipped smile. If they didn’t know who you were, they didn’t bother to ask, thankfully. You gained the attention from a lot of guys, who raked their eyes over you. One in particular, with big blonde curly hair, who made your skin crawl. You didn’t care much for them, and deftly ignored their stares.

Once you were in, you scanned the place for a familiar face. To your surprise, Jonathan Byers was the one you found.

“Hey!” he yelled in surprise.

“Hey!”

“I didn’t know you were invited to this party. Does Hopper know you’re here?”

“No exactly,” you shook your head. “It was a spur of the moment thing. Some girl told me about it while I was out shopping, decided why not? You know?”

The lie came surprisingly easy.

“Oh, cool.”

“What about you? You don’t seem like the type that likes parties. No offense.”

He laughed, “None taken. And I don’t, I hate them actually, but my friend Nancy invited me and I figured I’d try it out at least once. Have some fun.”

“That’s fair,” you inclined you head in approval.

Out of nowhere, there was a pair of voices getting louder and louder, followed by a huge gasp that went around the room, and everyone’s heads were turned towards the kitchen. Your gut told you you already knew who it was, and you looked over in bewilderment.

Right there, at the center of everyone’s attention, was the boy from your visions, dressed in black clothing, looking at a girl with short hair and a white shirt, who had just skilled a cup of punch on herself. Her mouth was agape and his eyes were wide in the same expression.

“What the hell,” she slurred, and ran off into the hallway. The boy, followed closely behind.

“Who was that?” you whispered to Jonathan.

He sighed, “That, was Nancy Wheeler, and her boyfriend, Steve Harrington.”

“Huh.” You looked towards the hallway where Nancy and Steve disappeared. “Wheeler? Mike’s sister?”

You had heard of her, but had never met her before. At least not in person. 

“Yeah.”

A few minutes later, Steve came storming out from the hallway with a broken look on his face. Everyone cast glances at him as he pushed past the crowd and headed for the door. He avoided all eye contact, which gave you the chance to get a good look at him in person. 

_I know your name…but who are you?_

Meanwhile, Jonathan couldn’t tear his eyes away from where Nancy still was. There was longing there, and without having to see it in your head, you knew how that would end. 

_“My friend Nancy…”_

So instead of sticking by his side and holding him back, you decided to go after Steve. He was why you were here after all.

“Hey, you know what? I think I’m gonna check out. I’m getting the idea that this isn’t my scene.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, his mind still elsewhere you could tell. Then he smiled at you. “I’ll probably head out soon too. Like I said, I hate parties.”

You sighed and said with a smirk, “Happy Halloween.”

He snorted, “Happy Halloween.”

Once again, you squeezed by the hoard of teenagers blocking the front door. You were surprised to find that most of those that has been swarming outside, had either left, or found some corner to shove themselves into inside.

You scanned the yard for any sign of Steve, but didn’t have to look very hard, since he was standing just a feet away, at the edge of the driveway. 

Now that you were so close to him, you weren’t quite sure how to approach him. You vaguely knew who he was, or at least his face, but he knew nothing about you. You couldn’t exactly dump everything you knew on him and hope that he didn’t think you were crazy. Plus, he just had a fight with his girlfriend by the looks of what just happened inside, so he probably wasn’t in the mood for conversation.

Still, you decided to take a chance, see what happens, so much like at the arcade, you played it as cool and nonchalant as you could. You just had to remind yourself that you did eventually end up becoming friends, if your visions were going to come true.

You hugged yourself as a gust of wind hit you, and slowly walked over to Steve’s side, making sure to keep a distance. He was looking up at the sky when he noticed you and you felt his gaze. When you caught his eye, you looked away quickly.

“Nice horns,” he said after a beat.

You smiled at the dejavu that hit you when something came true.

You snorted at his dorky conversation starter. “Thanks. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to get into the Halloween spirit or whatever.”

He hummed in amusement. “It is the best night of the entire year. Or at least it used to be.”

Any hint of a smile left his lips. There was something clearly bothering him, Nancy Wheeler, no doubt. He looked down at the ground now, and carded his hands through his hair.

You couldn’t help yourself.

“You okay?”

He snapped his head up at unexpected question. At the sight of a complete stranger, he looked at you curiously, but then you saw the realization, and then a cringe of embarrassment.

“I’m guessing you saw that, huh?”

You scrunched your face apologetically, “Yup. Kinda hard not to.”

“Sorry about that. My girlfriend-or should I say ex now? I don’t even know. She has a hard time controlling her alcohol intake…and apparently she’s a mean drunk.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, it’s alright. I mean, it’s not, but…. Shit happens I guess.”

“Yeah, shit happens.”

But that doesn’t make it any less painful.

He nodded slowly, before abruptly going, “Except, you’d think that after pouring your heart out to someone, and putting so much effort, you’d think that they’d love you back the same, and shit would be okay and maybe they would see you for you and not for a pile of, apparently, bullshit. But I guess….yeah, shit happens.”

He said the phrase bitterly now. 

You regarded him sadly, his words constricted your heart. He stopped suddenly, made a weird face.

“That was weird. I’m sorry, I don’t normally say stuff like that, especially not to people I don’t even know and I just dumped a load on you. Wow. Sorry.”

You giggled, “No, it’s okay, really. You’re clearly going through something.”

“Yeah, but…” He stopped again, and fixed you with a confused look. “Not to sound like a dick, but….Do I know you?”

“No, you don’t. My name is Nina, I’m Jim Hopper’s niece.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard about you,” he nodded, “I didn’t even know Hop had a niece.”

“Wow. Word really does travel fast in a small town, doesn’t it?”

He put his hands in his pockets and chuckled, “You have no idea. Everybody knows everybody around here.”

You chuckled warily, “That’s reassuring.”

He laughed breathily.

“Anyways, I’m Steve. Steve Harrington.” He held out his hand for you and with a smile you took it and shook it.

“Nice to meet you, Steve.”

Just like when you touched Will, you got a massive headache, and pieces of the current future came to you.

Once again, it was you and him, surrounded by alien hounds, followed by him telling you to run. Him laughing at something you said. His beat up face, as you held his head in your lap and ran your fingers through his hair. Him, taking you in for a hug. Him looking at you when he thought you weren’t looking. And then you and him, leaning against a car in front of a school building, and then him kissing you like his life depended on it.

When you snapped back to reality, you were hit with a dizzy spell. You weren’t sure how long the handshake was, but you pulled your hand back to your side immediately. Your cheeks were running hot with a blush and your heartbeat was skipping beats. 

_Oh my God._

“Are…are you okay?” he now asked you. He was suddenly closer now. There was genuine concern in his eyes and his hands hovered around your shoulders to catch you should you fall.

“Yeah, sorry, I just got…dizzy all of sudden. Must be the punch finally hitting me,” you lied smoothly, despite the fact that you were stone cold sober. No doubt more sober than Harrington himself.

He chuckled, “Not a big drinker, huh?”

“Well, when you live with a cop, doing things like this every weekend isn’t exactly an easy option.”

“Does he know you’re out right now?”

You shook your head, “Nope.”

He looked impressed. “Not many people have the balls to pull shit on Jim Hopper, myself included.”

You rolled your eyes, “He likes to act all tough and scary, but deep, deep down, he’s just a giant teddy bear. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he is.” 

He raised his eyebrows, “Oh really? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

You looked up at the sky. Why is it so easy to talk to him? It was never this easy to talk to El or Hopper when you first met them, but then again, you were shit at communicating at all back then. Were you just better at doing that now? Or was it something else?

Those visions were surely proof of that, weren’t they?

_Holy shit. That wasn’t what I expected at all._

Being a freak who can see the future because they were experimented on wasn’t exactly on the list of things that guys or anyone found attractive. But then again, El was able to make friends in this town despite her powers and background. That, out of everything, was the small but of hope you needed. There was hope for someone like you.

_El. Damn it._

“Shit,” you muttered to yourself, remembering that it was late and she was all alone. Maybe Hopper kept to his promise and went back to the cabin at 5:15 like he promised, but a vision of Hopper arriving late proved you wrong.

“You okay?”

“Do you know what time it is, by any chance?”

“Ummm,” he moved the sleeve of his jacket to look at the watch on his wrist. “It’s a little past 10:30.”

Five hours.

“Fuck.”

Steve looked halfway between amused and worried.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just realized that I should probably be heading back soon before Hopper does. Otherwise, he might kill me.”

“What was that about him being a teddy bear again?”

“I meant real deep, deep, inside, Harrington,” you grinned. “Anyways, it was nice meeting you. Sorry about whatever happened back there. I hope it all works out.”

Although you knew it wouldn’t, you knew better by now that it was better to keep some bits of the future to yourself, especially when it was someone else’s. You had no business in meddling in it unless you thought it was life threatening.

Steve frowned at the nameless mention of Nancy. Had he forgotten about it so soon?

“Thanks. I hope it does too.” 

You smiled at him, and headed down the sidewalk, towards the direction of the cabin. You didn’t have a watch, so you weren’t sure what time it was, but no doubt it was late. You hoped that Hopper was still home or that El wasn’t too angry at you for being late.

You didn’t get too far when Steve called out to you.

“Hey! Wait!”

You turned around to look at him again.

“Yeah?”

“I can give you a ride, if you want.”


	3. White Noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which El disappears, twice, and also you go to the one person you knows has a link to a demogorgon.

You obviously couldn’t let Steve know where you lived, and even if he did for some reason drop you off there, Hopper would have had a fit if you arrived in Steve Harrington’s car. So, you told Steve to drop you off at the station, so then you could walk home yourself.

He clearly still had a lot of stuff on his mind, so the car ride itself was mostly quiet, save for his music, which you thoroughly enjoyed. There was more variety than what Hopper had back at the cabin, and it was more modern. You found yourself mindlessly bopping your head to it as you looked out the passenger window at the streets, where the trick-or-treaters started to wane.

Your mind went to the visions you saw earlier, when you shook Steve’s hand, and your cheeks got hot again. You started cracking the joints on your fingers anxiously.

Before officially meeting him, it was more of a mysterious intrigue. Before, you were able to focus on the more important things that were happening, but now…your mind was elsewhere

. And when you touched his hand and you saw him there in your visions, felt him hug you and kiss you….it did something to you. You were feeling something you had never felt before and you weren’t sure if you should feel positively or negatively about it.

You didn’t notice it, but Steve was eyeing you and your hands.

“You okay there?” His voice broke you out of your thoughts.

When you looked at him, he glanced at your hands and then at you. Immediately, you pulled them apart and rested them palms down on your thighs.

“Sorry, it’s a nervous habit,’ you said with a self conscious smile.

He smiled crookedly, “Don’t worry, we’re almost there. I’m sure Hop’ll take it easy on you, right?”

_That’s not what I’m nervous about._

Still, you hummed in agreement. “Hopefully.”

There was a beat of silence. Then,

“So…what brings you to Hawkins?”

“Ummm I guess…” you thought over what you were going to say, “I guess I wanted to be somewhere different. Try something new for a bit.”

“And you figured a small town in Illinois was the perfect place?”

You shrugged, “For a city girl it’s a whole new experience. Trus me.”

Which wasn’t a lie. You spent plenty of time in big cities before coming back here. The stark difference was shocking.

“Hawkins just happened to be the most convenient place since Hopper lives here,” you added.

“Makes sense,” he nodded, as he moved the steering wheel to make a turn. “I just think it’s kind of funny considering small towns are usually places people want to leave, not visit.”

You giggled, “Yeah, weird, huh?”

“How long do you plan on staying here?”

“Ummmm….I’m not entirely sure to be honest.”

“Don’t you have school? Aren’t you like, in high school too?”

“Yeah, but I’m taking some time off.”

He gave you a weird look, “Is that even possible?”

Your heartbeat started to quicken, because your lie wasn’t holding up. If you were honest, you had no clue how the school system worked at all outside of movies you watched on TV. If anything, it was Hopper’s fault for refusing to integrate you into society earlier or at all.

_You should’ve stuck with the lie you told Joyce, Nine. Damn it._ Too late now, you had to work with it and save yourself.

“Yeah,” you said cooly, “It’s just for a few months.”

“And then you have to go back?”

“I guess so, yeah,” you said somberly. “Back” meaning, back into hiding no doubt. Otherwise people would question your stay. You huffed internally, _that isn’t fair. _

“You sound disappointed,” he looked at you sidelong, “You’re not starting to like it here, are you?”

You took off the devil horns that were still on your head, and were making your skull hurt, and played with them in your hands.

With a smirk you admitted, “Maybeeee a little bit.”

“Don’t you have family back home?”

You frowned. There was no, “back home,” you had to get to, no family anywhere else. Any trace of who your biological parents were, was nonexistent as far as you knew. The only home you’ve known this past year was the cabin, and before that, the streets and empty warehouses. 

The only family you had, right now, was Hopper and El.

“It’s complicated.”

Any smile left on his lips faded at the sight of your face and turned his eyes forward on the road ahead.

“Yeaaah,” he nodded in understanding, “My parents aren’t that great either.”

You gazed at his profile from the passenger seat, suddenly sad for him again. Whatever prompted him to say that must mean that he doesn’t have a solid relationship with his parents, and it obviously had an effect on him.

But you couldn’t exactly pry because that was personal, and neither of you knew each other that well enough yet.

Before you knew it, he pulled up to the sheriff’s station, and your conversation was put to an end. You got out of the car and leaned against the open window to say your goodbyes to him.

“Thanks, Steve,” you grinned.

He smiled softly to you, “No problem.”

“It was nice meeting you. Sorry about Nancy. It’ll get better.” You offered at least that much.

He wrinkled his brow, as if surprised by your niceness. “Thanks.”

With a nod, you pushed away from the car and waited for him to drive away before you started the rest of your walk to the cabin.

As you walked home, through woods, you couldn’t stop thinking about Steve. There were bigger things coming to Hawkins, giant monsters in the sky and dogs with monstrous faces, and yet, your mind decided to focus on a boy.

You shook your head at yourself. _Who am I? And why is this happening to me?_

The future is malleable, it could change at any second, especially with the smallest interference. You had changed many futures before, big or small, but….most of the time, your visions came true. It was a fact, and you knew it, but for the first time since getting your powers, you doubted the credibility of your own mind.

_Someone else, in love with me? Is that even possible? Especially when he was obviously still so in love with Nancy Wheeler?_

_I guess we’ll find out._

***

You went up the steps of the cabin, mentally preparing to face Hopper for the second time today. His truck was in the driveway, which obviously meant he was home. You weren’t sure when he got here, but based on what you knew, it was probably not that far off from you.

At least this time you were prepared for the worst, unlike earlier. You already had an explanation prepared. Would it get you out of trouble? Not necessarily. But would it be better than the entire truth? Yes.

When you got to the door, you paused, before raising your fist and knocking on the door.

“Hopper, open up. It’s me.”

Beyond the door, you heard a sigh, followed by heavy footsteps, and then the clicking of the many locks he had in place. When the door opened, Hopper was looking down at you, and was pissed. As you expected.

“Where the hell have you been?” he scolded.

You rolled your eyes and pushed past him to get out of the freezing cold and into the warm cabin. 

“Out,” you muttered.

Hopper all but slammed the door shut.

“Out? Out where?”

You took your jacket off and threw it over the back of the couch, and then placed the pieces of your costume on the breakfast table. He glanced at them and his expression worsened.

“Oh, you know. A party.”

“A party?” he raised his voice incredulously. 

You shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah. A party. A Halloween party.”

He sputtered, “Where? With who? You barely know anybody here.”

“Yeah, but they know me. You were right about this small town, word travels fast. Didn’t take much for somebody to invite me.”

“And you just decided to go?”

“Yeah.”

“After I specifically told you no partying?”

“It was either that, or doing the other thing you told me not to do. And on account that you told me to stay out of it, I decided on the party,” you shrugged with a look of smug pettiness. “I figured I’d go to at least one before you lock me up for good up here.”

“I’m not going to-” he stopped himself short and took a deep breath to calm down. He nodded, narrowing his eyes at you, “Alright. I see. You wanted to piss me off for earlier. Is that it? Well, you did it kid. Congratulations, you succeeded.”

“Good,” you said plainly. “Maybe that’ll stop you from being such an asshole.”

“Hey!” he pointed a parental finger at you. “Language!”

It elicited a snort from you.

You eyed the rest of the cabin, and frowned when you saw that something was wrong with the living room. Instead of being where it usually would be, in front of the couch, the TV missing. The cords, however, were still plugged into the wall, and you followed them with your eyes until they disappeared under the door to yours and El’s room.

Oh no. This can’t be good..

In tired annoyance, you looked at Hopper again. “You were late, weren’t you?”

The anger faded to one of disappointment, in himself you were guessing.

“I was doing something and I got caught up-”

“Yeah, yeah,” you said, but it wasn’t in anger. You were guilty too. “We both messed up.”

“She refuses to talk to me,” he said, “I don’t know what to do.”

You sighed.

“I’ll talk to her.”

You followed the cords to the bedroom door, and grabbed the bowl of candy that was sitting on the couch, on the way. You rested it on your hip with one hand, while you knocked softly with the other.

“El? El, it’s me, Nine. Can I come in?”

There was silence, and you thought for sure she was mad at you too.

“El?”

The door unlocked and swung open by itself - rather, with the help of El’s powers. When you looked inside, she was sitting on the floor, in front of the TV, with a piece of fabric in her hands.

She had been using her other powers again, but you chose not to ask her about it.

“Can I come in?” you asked again.

She nodded quietly, making her short curls bounce.

You glanced back at Hopper, who looked guilty, but happier now that she was talking to someone. With the bowl of candy in hand, you entered the room and it quickly shut and locked behind you.

“I brought candy.” You lowered yourself down onto the floor in front of you and placed the bowl in between you both. 

You looked at her warily. You felt like you had let her down. Ever since you started going downtown, the two of you barely got any time together. You told yourself that if things were different, that if Hopper let her out too, you’d bring her along with you. But that wasn’t an excuse for breaking this promise. 

Hopper was the chief of police, so it was understandable that things would get in the way, but not you. You had decided to go to a party, to figure something out, sure, but still, it was a party. Needless to say, you felt like you let your little sister down.

You both stared at each other, these unspoken words lingering between you both. Neither of you had taken any candy yet.

“I’m sorry,” you admitted. “I should’ve been here. I know you really wanted to spend Halloween together.”

She nodded.

“It’s just, Hopper made me mad and I….I got caught up in something.” 

“Party?” she uttered.

You pressed your lips together. “Yeah, party. It wasn’t that fun though. Stupid. I like spending time with you more.”

There was the smallest smile on her lips.

“And I know that’s not a good excuse, but I’m here now. Halloween isn’t over just yet. We can watch TV, play games, and eat all the candy you want. Yeah?”

Her smile was bigger now and she nodded. 

“I promise that next Halloween, we can decorate, dress up even if it’s just inside, and have even more fun. Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Seeing her face brighten up made your night all the more better. You had so much love for her, it was insane.

The two of you started eating the candy and turned the channel to something you liked. Amidst it, you found yourself aching to tell her something about tonight. You knew how much she liked to hear about what went on out there, so you often gave her updates. 

“You know,” you said suddenly, “I met someone today.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

You flashed your eyes at her. “A boy.”

Her eyes lit up, and you proceeded to tell her as many details as you could, without revealing too much.

***

You were surprised by the fact that Hopper didn’t try to ground you in any way after going to that party. Maybe, it was the fact that you hadn’t come home drunk and promised that it was the last time, or maybe it was the fact that, just like you, he was tired of arguing. Especially since El was starting to get angrier and angrier as the days went by.

Every time she asked when it was safe enough to go out, Hopper would say soon, soon, soon. And every time, months would pass, and things would get worse. You tried calming her down and telling her that things were going to be okay, but your words were falling on deaf ears.

You didn’t think it would get so bad, until she gave you and Hopper the scare of your lives, and disappeared for the first time that Fall. 

One day, when you went to the cabin with bags of food, you found that the place was completely empty. As per usual, there was no sign of Hopper. But what you didn’t expect was for El’s room to be empty, and for her to be entirely gone.

You started freaking out, and searched the woods far and wide, calling out her name, but there was no response and no sign of her.

You tried closing your eyes and hoping to get any clue as to where she could be, but nothing happened, not like that. So, in a burst of quick thinking, you went back inside the cabin, sat down on the floor of your bedroom, and turned on the TV.

You switched it to a channel with no signal. Just static, and white noise. It was a trick you learned from El a long time ago. White noise or anything that helps block out other frequencies, helps to put you in a meditative state, and focus on your abilities.

You couldn’t locate people like she could, but you could see where their immediate future was going from this point in time.

You sat with your legs crossed, put a makeshift blindfold over your eyes, and focused on El, and El only.

_El, El, El,_ you repeated.

Before you knew it, you were sinking deep, deep within your mind. Visions flashed behind your eyelids, and you got what you were looking for.

You saw El, walking through the woods. El, in front of a middle school. El walking through a hallway. And then, as if bleeding through, you had a vision of Will. A vision you’ve had before, but with greater detail. 

He was in the field, the black smoke consuming him, but now you saw that the field was actually behind the school. His friends were surrounding him, and his mother, Joyce, was begging for him to respond, but he wouldn’t.

You also saw the giant monster, turning its head in your direction, and then a Demogorgon, launching itself at you.

With a gasp, you pulled the blindfold off, and looked around the room to find that you were entirely alone.

After gathering yourself, you nodded. You knew where she was, and you knew what you had to do.

***

You walked through the woods, down past Hawkins High School, and straight to the middle school, where you knew she would be. By this time, she might already be inside. So, with a glance around to make sure nobody was watching you, you walked up to the double doors in one of the buildings and went inside.

The hallways all looked the same, so you weren’t sure exactly what part she was in, so you’d have to scour the entire school before it was too late. Kids were running around, and you had to hide a few times to keep from being seen. It wasn’t until you neared the school gym, that you found her. 

She was standing at the doors, peering through the windows, with sadness. You walked up slowly to her, trying your best not to scare her should she freak out and use her powers on you. When you got close enough you whispered her name loud enough for her to hear.

“El!”

Startled, she snapped her head in your direction. She looked surprised at the sight of you, but then she looked like she was about to cry. Not from being caught, but from something else.

She turned back to the inside of the gym and you tip-toed right next to her to get a glimpse as to what it was that had her attention. When you saw what - rather, who - was in there, you realized why she looked the way she was.

It was Mike and the new girl, Max, talking.

You knew El and Mike had been incredibly close, but you weren’t aware of how much until now. He must be very special to her.

You put your hands on her shoulders and said, “El, we have to go.”

You tried pulling her along, but she resisted.

“El, they’re going to see you. I know you miss them, but we have to go. Please.”

You pulled her again, and this time she followed along. The two of you snuck through the hallways as best as you could, until you exited the building. As soon as you did, you heard yelling from the far field of the school.

You stopped for a moment, keeping El in front of you, and looked around to see where it was coming from. And right there, by the school building, was Will, surrounded by his friends, and his mom.

You widened your eyes and you could feel yourself getting sick to the stomach. 

It was happening. Whatever had taken him before, was taking him again, but in a different, more sinister way now. You wanted so badly to go over there and help, but there was nothing you could do. Not without exposing El. And it wasn’t like you had any idea how to get rid of this thing. Not yet.

But for him, and for everyone else in this town, including yourself, you were going to figure it out.

***

The first time El disappeared, she gave you and Hopper hell when she came home.

The second time El disappeared, you knew there was no point in looking for her.

When you used the white noise to look for her again, first you saw her with a blonde woman, in a chair. Then you saw her in a city far away from here, with big buildings. You saw her with a group of people, much older than her. She was dressed all in black, with makeup around her eyes, and her hair slicked back. 

What surprised you the most, and hit you the hardest, was the dark skinned girl with straight black hair that you saw her with, who had a tattoo on her forearm with the number “008”. You remembered her, remembered seeing her at the lab, in passing. You never knew where most of the others had ended up, but it seems like she was fairing pretty well.

It took everything in you not to go after her, to find El and this mystery number 8. But your dreams were keeping you here, as well as the problems that were already starting to ensue.

The demogorgons, being the number one.

So, you had to find the one person, who currently had direct contact with one of them: Dustin Henderson.

Luckily, you already had a general idea of where Dustin was going to be anyways. If you were correct, he should be stopping by the Wheeler house sometime today. If anyone else was going to believe anything you had to say, it would be him. That is, if you ever got a word in.

“Hey Dustin!” You called out to him when you saw him going up the lawn of the Wheeler house.

“Nina? Hey, have you seen Hopper?”

“No, I don’t know where he is. Why?” 

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, and looked downwards. “Did everyone just disappear?”

“I didn’t,” you joked. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

He sighed in irritation. “No, nothing is okay. I need help from my friends, but I can’t find them anywhere.”

“What do you need help with?”

“I-It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah….” Suddenly, his eyes widened, and you didn’t notice he was looking at your arm.

“Hey, on the topic of help. I was wondering if you could help me with something,” you started

Completely ignoring what you just said, he pointed at your arm, and said, “Hey I didn’t know you had a tattoo! I had a friend who had a tattoo like tha-Oh shit..wait…”

Your sleeve had ridden up, exposing your “009” brand. Immediately you pulled it down to hide it, but clearly, it was too late.

Dustin’s jaw dropped and he looked right at you. He knew what it meant. No doubt he saw El’s “011” on her arm too at some point in time.

“Oh my god. That’s just like- You’re one of them! You’re just like….” he gasped. “Do you know Eleven? Do you know where she is? Do you have powers too? I knew you weren’t-”

You put a hand over his mouth to shut him up, and shushed him. He was practically singing it from the rooftops. You looked around to make sure nobody was listening in.

Jeez this kid was clever, and loud.

“Dustin, shhh,” you whispered, “Yes. Yes, El is alive, and yes I’m like her, but you can’t tell anybody, okay? Now, keep it the fuck down.”

You removed your hand from his mouth slowly, and although he was quiet now, his giddy smile never left.

“I knew it, I knew she wasn’t dead.” he whispered. “So this means you have powers too right? Can you move things with your mind too? Or can you control fire? Or, ooh, ooh, ooh, can you read minds??? Can you do mind control??”

He got progressively louder with each question and you had to shush him again. He apologized immediately. 

“We can talk about that later,” you said. 

“But hey, this is actually perfect! Maybe you can help-”

A maroon colored car pulled up on the street up ahead, and right in front of Mike’s house. The person driving it exited the car, and to both of your complete and utter surprises, Steve Harrington was the one to come out. 

He was holding a bouquet of red roses and was headed for the front door. He was muttering things to himself that you couldn’t understand, almost like he was arguing with himself or an imaginary person.

“Fantastic,” Dustin said, and then proceeded to walk over to the high school senior.

“Steve,” he called out. The other boy stopped and Dustin pointed to the bouquet. “Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?”

Steve looked down at the flowers and then back at Dustin with a confused look. “No,” he snided. 

“Good.” Dustin took the flowers right out of Steve’s hand and walked away with them, towards the car. 

“Hey, what the hell! Hey!”

“Nancy isn’t home.” 

“Where is she?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dustin snapped. The curly haired boy turned to you and waved for you to come over. “Nina, come on!”

You pointed at yourself questioningly, and Dustin nodded like it was obvious. You wanted to protest and ask questions, but the way he seemed determined made you hold your tongue. Steve looked dramatically for where you were until he found you. 

“Hop’s niece? What are you doing here?”

“We need all the help we can get,” Dustin said. “We have bigger problems than your love life, Harrington.”

You walked over to them and shrugged your shoulders at Steve. “I have no idea what’s going on either.”

The two of you exchanged wary glances, even though you had an idea of what was about to happen. Past visions flash and you start to connect the dots. So is this when this happens?

_It’s what you were hoping for, wasn’t it?_

“Do you still have your bat?” Dustin asked Steve.

“Bat? What bat?”

“The one with the nails?”

“Why?” his voice faltered and you gave the both of them strange looks.

Dustin barely looked at either of you and hastily said, “I’ll explain it on the way. Get in.”

He jumped into the passenger seat, wasting not one more second of time.

You and Steve exchanged wide-eyed looks this time and then looked to Dustin again.

“Now?” you both asked.

“Now!”

With that, Steve jumped into the driver’s seat, and you into the back. Dustin handed you the bouquet of roses, and practically snapped his fingers for Steve to speed off.


	4. Goodnight, Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dustin drags you and Steve to fight Dart, which leads to some planning, and you spending the night at Steve's house.

You had a feeling what was going to happen next, but you just never knew the “how”. Your powers didn’t exactly give you solid details, but you knew quite enough to get you going. However, you never saw, or even imagined, that a 13 year old would be ordering you to get into Steve Harrington’s BMW, but here you were, listening intently as he explained what had happened to Dart and how he trapped him in the cellar of his house.

Steve was adamant that it must just be a lizard, while Dustin argued to him that it wasn’t. They went back and forth, until Dustin told him that the thing ate his cat, mews. After that, Steve took his word on it, and shut up.

You were silent through all of this, and it all helped put more pieces of the puzzle together. Whatever Dustin found, had turned into one of those beasts that you saw in your vision. But you remembered that there were multiple of them. 

You ended your silence and leaned forward and rested your hands on the two from seats to steady yourself despite the moving car.

“You said there was only one of them?”

“Yeah, I think I’d remember if there was more than one Dart.”

You ignored his snappy tone. “Are you sure there aren’t more where that came from? I mean it had to be..spawned…from something else right?”

“As far as I know, no. At least not yet. Let’s hope for our own asses, that there’s only Dart.”

_Yeah, well, then our asses are fucked_. You knew for a fact that there were more, you just weren’t sure where they were hiding, yet. So, where the hell were they?

Steve looked at you through the rearview mirror, and the two of you locked eyes. This was the first time since Halloween that you had been in his car. The only other times you saw him, was downtown, in passing, or from afar.

You tried hard to fight that weird tingling feeling in your stomach as you envisioned him kissing you again.

He tore his eyes away from you and said to Dustin, “What’s she doing here?”

“I already told you, we could use all the help we can get. Besides, she’s cool, don’t worry.”

You knew he was probably wondering if you knew what Dustin was getting you into. As far as he knew, you were just Jim Hopper’s niece, but you had a feeling he’d be knowing more than that by the end of tonight.

Steve stayed silent for the remainder of the car ride, until you finally arrived to the Henderson house. Immediately, they both got out of the car, with you hesitantly following close behind. You still weren’t sure what their plan was.

They went to the back of the car and opened the trunk, and you took this opportunity to ask questions.

“I’m sorry, but what is it exactly that we’re going to do?”

“There’s a monster in my cellar and we’re going to kill it.”

“A monster? The demogorgon?”

“Yeah. I’m guessing Hopper told you about it?”

“Yeah,” you said it warily, as your mind was somewhere else. You were vaguely remembering a vision of a cellar, but there was nothing in it. The only encounter with a demogorgon you knew of thus far, was the one at the junkyard.

Out of the back trunk, Steve took out a baseball bat with tons of nails sticking out of it. Like the one you had seen him holding in your dream. You crossed your arms and looked at him questioningly.

“Care to explain why you have a bat with nails in your trunk?”

He twirled it in his hand, a familiar movement to him.

“Oh, you know….in case of emergencies.”

“What kind of emergencies require something like that?”

“Demogorgons and any other alien bastards of the like,” he flashed his eyes at you. He looked a little scared despite how charming he was trying to come across.

He grabbed a crowbar from the trunk and thrust it in your direction. “Here. You’re gonna need it.”

You eyed it before taking it from him and started moving it with your hands.

“You know, that thing’s not gonna be in there. It’s probably gone.”

Steve shut the trunk with a metallic slam. Dustin seemed preoccupied with whatever plan he had in mind, but still, he answered you.

“He’s in there, alright. I locked him in there myself, damn near shit my pants.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” he said irritably. “There’s no way for that thing to get out. Now, come on.”

Steve looked at you skeptically, clearly wondering what the hell you were talking about, and you shrugged at him. He then followed Dustin to the back of the house, towards where the cellar was. You pursed your lips and started following behind. There was no point in protesting if they weren’t going to listen.

When you got to the red cellar doors set into the ground with concrete, they were held closed with a lock and chain. Steve stepped in front of it, didn’t say a word. He was trying to listen for something.

“I don’t hear shit,” he said, when there was only silence. “What if she’s right?”

“I am,” you whispered.

“He’s in there.” Dustin argued.

Steve tapped the door with his bat, when there was still no noise, he raised the bat and banged it harder on the red-painted metal. Nothing happened, and Steve whirled around to Dustin in annoyance, pointing the flashlight at his face.

“Alright, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank…you’re dead.”

You smirked at the threat.

“It’s not.”

“Alright?”

“It’s not a prank.” He said it in a more whispered voice. At this point, he was desperate for someone to listen. He closed his eyes to shield them from the light and said, “Get it out of my face.”

Steve lowered it, and then glanced back at you with a raised eyebrow. 

“What do you think? You’re the one who said there was nothing in there.”

Even though you knew there was no demogorgon in there, you knew there’d at least be evidence of one. And right now, Steve seemed to need that proof. Maybe you all did so the ball could get rolling.

So, you shrugged and motioned with your head to the door. “It’s worth a shot. Prove me wrong.”

He nodded, and said to Dustin, “You got a key for this thing?”

Dustin gave him the key, and as Steve unlocked it, and pulled open the doors, you inched closer to the cellar. He You looked down at the large square hole, with stairs leading down into perpetual darkness.

Steve crouched down and grabbed the flashlight that he had given to Dustin and directed it into the cellar. There was nothing but gray concrete.

“He must be further down there,” Dustin said. “I’ll stay up here in case he tries to escape.”

Meaning, that he was expecting the both of you to go down there together. Both you and Steve turned to the boy in disbelief. According to him, there was a monster in there, so, that suggestion was hilarious to you. He must be pretty scared of it.

You sarcastically said, “Thanks, Dustin. That’s comforting.”

Steve snorted and then shook his head.

He got up from his crouch on the floor and gave you a nod, silently asking if you were ready. You nodded back in answer. 

No matter how this turned out, you weren’t going to leave him alone. Maybe Dart was down there. Time could’ve changed, right?

With your weapons in front of you, you both slowly went down the steps, into the darkness. Suddenly, he stopped and you ran into him. 

“Sorry,” he whispered.

There was a click and then a light that Steve had turned on. You both looked around the place, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, at least not at eye level. 

“What the hell,” he muttered.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.” 

He was looking down at something on the floor, and you heard a gross squishing noise. You looked over his shoulder, and cringed in disgust when you saw a large piece of what looked like slimy skin, hanging from his bat.

“Ugh.”

You looked up from it, to see where it could’ve come from, or if Dart really was still around, hiding. But instead you found something else. Something that confirmed your vision, but also made your stomach uneasy.

“Oh shit.”

Steve looked at you. “What?”

You never tore your eyes off it, and motioned with your head towards the large, gaping hole that was torn through the bricks, and beyond that, the dirt.

“Look.”

When he saw it, reality seemed to set in for him.

“Aww shit.”

***

After Steve called Dustin down to see what was clearly Dart’s escape route, and after you both finally exited the cellar, the boys seemed to put together that you had been right all along.

“You knew he wasn’t going to be down there,” he pointed an accusing finger at you. “How?”

“Would you believe me if I said it was a wild guess?”

“No. You didn’t even know about Dart before today. You didn’t even know this demo…dog, existed! So how could you know what it was capable of?” he yelled. “Unless…”

Steve raised a hand and stood between the two of you. “Easy, kid. Even I doubted that that thing was in there. You don’t need to get all crazy here.”

“I’m only getting crazy because a fucking demogorgon dog, that I thought I trapped, is on the loose, and she knew about it!”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey. Chill out, alright?” Steve stuck the bat in his direction to keep him at bay. Then, he turned his attention to you. “Did you actually know, or was it just a stupid guess?”

You were standing with your arms crossed, protectively. While Dustin was getting riled up, Steve was surprisingly calm, and he was asking you with his eyes to tell the truth. For some reason, you felt compelled to just spill your guts and tell him everything.

_Oh, what a dangerous feeling._

You bit your lip and your lack of an answer, made Steve uneasy. He pointed his bat at you now, like you were some bad guy now.

“Did you know?”

“Easy,” you said defensively, and with a finger moved the bat to the side carefully. You sighed. There was no point in hiding now. “Yes. I did know. But not because of whatever reason you two might be thinking. I’m on your side.”

As if a lightbulb went off in his head, Dustin’s face lit up, and he blurted out, “Does it have to do with the fact that you’re number nine?”

Steve made a face of confusion and sputtered, “Number nine? Wait, what now?”

“Remember El? There’s ten more like her, and she’s one of them.”

Steve’s eyes went wide in shock. “No shit. Really?” He asked you.

You nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, he’s right.”

*** 

You didn’t want to tell your life story out in the open, so you made them both get back into Steve’s car so you could explain everything to them in the Henderson driveway. 

You told them enough without giving too many unnecessary details. You told them about the Hawkins lab and how you were experimented on as the same time as Eleven. You told them about your powers, and how you found Hopper and had been living with him as an adopted daughter for a year. 

You obviously kept your visions about Steve and El’s disappearance to yourself, amongst other unnecessary details.

When you were done, they were fully facing you, twisted in their seats, completely astounded by your revelations. Steve looked more overwhelmed than ever, while Dustin’s face was one of excitement.

“Wait,” he said after a moment, “You’re telling us, that you can see the future?”

You knew how crazy it must have sounded, the thing of sci-fi movies was something that you lived with everyday. Even though it wasn’t the first time these two had experienced something preposterous, you couldn’t blame them for having a million questions. 

“Yep.”

“So you know everything that happens…before it happens?” 

“No, not everything.”

“Do you know what I’m going to say before I say it?” Dustin asked.

You giggled, “No, that would be annoying. But it is a fun to trick Hopper into thinking I do.”

“Can you see alternate timelines?”

“No, I only see the future as it currently is.”

“So, what can you see? Or, how far?” 

“It usually varies, but the farthest I’ve seen is about a month. I don’t know everything that’s going to happen, in fact, I only get bits and fragments that I have to piece together or guess what they’re about. Or just wait until I get another that helps make sense of the others.”

He looked at your tattoo again, which was exposed now.

“Nina, Nine, makes sense now,” Dustin nodded. 

Finally, it was Steve’s turn to ask questions. Surprisingly enough, he was level headed, and didn’t seem as freaked out about everything as you thought he would be. If you had any anxiety over Steve Harrington’s reaction to you, it was gone now.

He was more focused on the real problems at hand.

“So, this demo..dog..whatever…there’s more of them?”

“Yeah.”

“How many?”  
You closed your eyes and tried to remember as best as you could.

“Three. Maybe more. I’m not entirely sure, but there were at least three.”

Steve ran his hand over his face. “Jesus Christ.”

“Holy shit.” Dustin cursed.

You snorted, “Yeah. I told you they had to come from somewhere. Wherever Dart sprouted from, there’s more.”

“Well,” Steve started, his face deep in thought. “Then I guess the plan still stands. We just have to adjust it.”

You furrowed your brow, “What plan?”

He inclined his head, “We kill the sons of bitches.”

***

Taking what you told them into consideration, the three of you hatched a plan to fight off these demodogs (as Dustin was now calling them). It was clear from your vision that the junkyard was the place to go. It was empty of people, so nobody could get hurt, and there were plenty of things to use as weapons as well as places to use for shelter.

The plan was to lure the demodogs to the junkyard, using pieces of raw meat, so that you could contain them in one area, and keep them from hurting anyone else. The best route, according to Steve, was the train tracks. Mostly because it was far from the main roads, but also because there was the chance of a train passing by and killing one of them.

Once at the junkyard, it would be a waiting game.

You spent most of this planning at Steve’s house, which he suggested you spend the night in because his parents were never home. And clearly, none of Dustin’s other friends were responding to him.

The three of you stood around the counter in the middle of his massive kitchen. Dustin had a box of cereal in his hands while you all talked.

“If there’s three, like you said, it’s gotta be at least you and me out there,” Steve said to you. “I think if we get you a weapon, we can both take them.”

You nodded, “Agreed. You got another bat with nails lying around?”

He smirked, “Not exactly, but we’ll figure it out.”

In your vision, it was Steve that had been fighting them off, as far as you knew, you weren’t holding a weapon. So, that change within itself should make a difference.

“There’s an abandoned RV out there, so we can use that as shelter while we wait, and I can help keep watch from there. I’m more of the brains than the muscle anyway,” Dustin added with a mouthful of cereal.

You smiled at how unashamed he was about it. You stuck your hand in the box of cereal and grabbed a handful for yourself. 

“So, what do we do now?” you asked Steve.

“Well, we still need supplies, but the grocery store doesn’t open until the morning. Soooo, we wait. Sleep, I guess. Especially if we have all that going on tomorrow.”

“Sleep? With that thing out there? And all this shit happening?”

“There’s not much else we can do, Nina. If we go out looking for it now, then we’re as good as dead.”

  
You sighed. He was right.

Sleeping felt like a crazy idea, but at the mention of it, you could feel your body start to shut down. You had been on the go almost all day that you didn’t realize how tired you were until now.

With a yawn you said, “Okay, fine.”

He led the two of you upstairs to the bedrooms and gave you each one. Dustin got the guest room, and was promised pajamas later. Steve led you further into the hallway, until he stopped at a door past the bathroom. 

“You can sleep in my room,” he said with his hand on the doorknob.

He opened it, and what immediately drew your attention, were the unique white walls, that weren’t just white, but had black squares all over in a plaid pattern. 

Maybe it was the fact that you only ever knew the cabin for so long, but you really liked them.

Up ahead in the right hand corner was a big bed with navy blue bedding, and reflecting it was a desk with things stacked on it, and a framed picture of a red car. In between was a window with curtains with the same pattern as the walls, except in blue that matched the bed. 

With the other furniture he had, and the overall quality, there was no mistaking he had money and style.

You were taking everything in, as he rummaged through his drawers for clothes to give you. It wasn’t until he walked up to you with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that you snapped out of it. 

“What?” he asked, noticing the look on your face.

“You have a cool room.”

“Thanks.”

He handed you the clothes and you took them with a shy grin. Your fingers brushed together and for a second you thought you’d have another swell of visions, but thankfully you didn’t. There’d be no hiding it now.

“Thank you.” you said. “Where are you gonna sleep?”

“My parents’ room. They shouldn’t be back for a few days, so I’m sure they won’t notice a difference.”

You nodded and you stood there in silence for a moment. You expected him to ask you something, but then he snapped out of it and said,

“I’ll, uh. I’ll let you change into that. Dustin’s waiting for clothes too, so I should probably do that.”

“Yeah.”

He backed away and out of the room, until you were finally alone. You breathed a sigh of relief you didn’t even know you had been holding in. It was getting harder and harder to keep it together around him, and you hated it.

***

When you changed into Steve’s clothes (that were surprisingly very cozy), you thought that was that, and that the night was over. But, not 10 minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door.

You turned away from the window, which you were looking through.

“Come in.”

The door opened slowly, and then Steve’s hair popped in, followed by his face, and then his shoulders.

“Those clothes fit you okay?”

You looked down at yourself and played with the material of the shirt. “Yeah.”

He crept more of his body through the door. “I didn’t wake you up did I?”

You shook your head, “No, you’re good. Did you need something?”

He was about to say something, but closed the door behind him first. You watched him as he stood there, in front of the doorway, in his pajamas, as you mulled over whatever he wanted to say.

“Are you okay?” you asked and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“No, yeah….this is gonna sound really weird, or stupid, but there’s something I’ve been thinking of asking you and if I don’t it’s probably going to bother me for like, the rest of my life, so,” he rambled and you fought the urge to smile.

“What is it?” you urged him on.

“Do..do Nancy and I…do we end up together? Do you know?”

You held your breath and thought carefully about what to say, because you knew the answer. You knew that it wasn’t something that he would want to hear. You bit your lower lip, and Steve took it as a sign.

“Well, shit.”

“What? I didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, but your face says it all,” he shook his head and that broken look you saw back at the party was back. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to you, somberly. “We’re done. Nancy and I really are through.”

You frowned and put your hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Steve. I don’t know anything about your relationship, but I can tell that you really cared about her.”

“Yeah, I did.” he nodded. “She was my first love, you know?”

You nodded sheepishly.

“She couldn’t say it you know…that she loved me. We talked again after the party, and she couldn’t say it….but still, like an idiot I bought a bouquet of roses and was going over to apologize. Me, apologize. When I did nothing wrong.” He looked at you now. “Pretty stupid, huh?”

“I don’t know much about love, but from what I’ve heard, it makes you do stupid things.”

“You got that right,” he nodded and fell back onto the comforter. 

“Are you gonna be okay?” you asked.

He crossed his arms behind his head, making the muscles there stand out, and hummed, “Something tells me you know that already.”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask.”

He smiled, taking you in.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be okay. It’s a good thing I asked, because now I feel like I have some kind of closure. I don’t have to sit around, waiting like some lost puppy.”

“Glad I could help??”

He chuckled, “Thanks, Nina.”

He thought for a moment, and then furrowed his brow. “Is your real name even Nina? Or is it Nine, or…something else?”

“It’s Nine. At least that’s the one that they gave me back at the lab. I don’t remember being called anything else.”

He adjusted his head to get a good view of you. His expression turned serious.

“Have you ever thought of picking out a new name? I mean, you shouldn’t have to go by Nine anymore if you don’t want to. Now that you’re free from that shit hole, you should be able to pick a new name for yourself, right?”

You inclined your head in agreement. “I have thought of it before. I just don’t know what name I’d pick. There’s so many and I’d want to pick the right one. One that feels right, you know?”

He nodded, “You could always go for the easy choices. Like celebrity names. Be Madonna 2.0.”

You giggled and decided to lower yourself down next to him. “I’m not going to name myself after Madonna.”

“I’m just saying, if you want to stick to the singular names, you could go for something like that. Like Blondie.”

“Who?”

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked at you like you were an alien.

“You don’t know who Blondie is?”

“Steve, you know my life story now. Of course I don’t know Blondie.”

“What about the Smiths?”

“Nope.”

“The Cure?”

“No.”

“David Bowie??”

“Steve, just assume I’m E.T. and that I don’t know shit about this planet.”

“Okay, remind me to make you a tape of all the best songs that currently exist, because this?” he pointed at you, “This is a tragedy.”

You rolled your eyes at that, “You’re so dramatic, but okay. I’ll hold you to that, Harrington.”

He smiled, looking pleased with himself, and plopped back down on the bed. Despite what you said, there was a burst of excitement in your chest. No one ever offered to make you, or give you anything before, especially not music.

The two of you stayed in silence for a moment, until Steve started talking again.

“It must be some crazy sign from the universe if I ended up running into you and Dustin instead of knocking on that door. Now we’re planning to kill alien monster dogs tomorrow. What a fucking trip.”

You both laughed at that.

“I know. In my experience, the universe always works in weird ways. Things happen for a reason and all that.”

“Riiight.” He regarded you curiously. You could tell in his eyes there were a million questions he wanted to ask you but wasn’t sure which one to choose. 

Finally, he asked, “Is it cool to know what’s going to happen in the future or…?”

You knew the ending to that question. _Is it cool or does it suck to have visions all the time?_

“Ummm…I mean…I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t somewhat of a curse. I mean, I’m lucky I’m not one of those that sees every second of every day, or knows how they’re going to die - at least not yet - but, I think it would be nice to be surprised every once in a while. Knowing too much kind of takes that away from you.”

He propped himself up on his elbow again, his face hovering over you. 

“And…there isn’t a way to…turn it off somehow? When you don’t need it?”

“Not as far as I know. Then again, I haven’t exactly tried. These powers have helped me survive in so many ways, so, I’ve always needed them. At this point, it would be a miracle if things changed and I somehow didn’t anymore.”

“Well, you never know. Maybe when we beat this thing, and everything goes back to normal. Maybe a miracle will happen,” he shrugged and smiled at you.

He was so shockingly hopeful, that for the first time you wanted to know what normal was. At least, your version of normal. It made you feel warm inside and you couldn’t help but smile back. 

“I hope you’re right, Harrington.”

You stayed there for a moment, with you looking up at him, and his face hovering over yours. It wasn’t so close it was weird, but close enough that it made you aware of how close you were. 

You weren’t sure what you wanted to happen next. This wasn’t where you kissed for the first time, or at least you weren’t sure. But then why did you want it so badly to happen now, just to see what it was like.

_Stop it._

You weren’t sure whether you wanted him to spare you and put an end to these emotions for a night and go, or whether you wanted him to stay longer and for this conversation to keep going until the sun came up. 

_Yes, stay. Please, stay. I’ve never felt this way before and I think I’m starting to like it._

_Stop._

As if realizing how dangerously close he was, he shook his head, and sat up. 

“Anyways,” he said abruptly, and stood up from the bed, “I should probably go. We have a big day tomorrow and I shouldn’t be bothering you.”

“You’re not bothering me, Steve,” you assured him, and you swore you saw something pass over his eyes, “But you’re right, we should get some sleep.”

You got up from the bed and the two of you walked over to the door. Steve opened it leaned against the frame, facing you.

“Did you know we were going to meet?” he blurted out.

You were taken aback by the sudden question, but still, you answered, “Yeah, eventually. I didn’t know when, but I figured if you were in my visions then it would happen at some point in time.”

“Did you know how, though?”

“You mean, at the party?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I knew I’d meet you at the party.”

He paused to think. “Is that why you talked to me?”

“I mean, the only reason I wanted to go to the party in the first place, is because I wanted to figure out who you were. You popped up in my visions a lot, and I wanted to know why. I guess you could say the party was my way in.”

He furrowed his brow, “And why do you think I was in your visions a lot?”

_I don’t know anymore. Why are you asking this question?_

You shrugged, “We’re supposed to kill aliens together. Save Hawkins. Pretty self explanatory, right?”

“Right, right.” His chest rose and fell with a deep breath. He pushed away from the doorway. “Alright. Goodnight, Nina.”

You smiled at his usage of the name. “Goodnight, Steve.”

With one last smile, and one last glance, you shut the door behind him.


	5. Ready When You Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you, Steve, and the kids, get ready to face off the demodogs in the junkyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Cussing, fluff, violence, mentions of blood, mayhem

_“Hey, it’s uh…it’s me,” Hopper was sitting in his truck, wearing hospital scrubs, and was wrapped up in a blanket. He was resting his hands on the steering wheel, with the radio in one of them. **  
**_

_“I know that I’ve been gone too long, and, uh…It’s - I just want you guys to know that it’s not about you and it’s not about our fight. Okay? Something came up, and yes, Nine, it has to do with everything you told me, and I will….I’ll explain it all when I see you. I just..I want you to know that I’m not mad. I’m just sorry. About everything. I- I don’t want you to get hurt, either of you, at all. And I don’t want to lose you.” His voice broke, and he sniffled._

_“Just make sure to heat up some real food. Okay? There’s some left in the fridge. Nine, make sure it’s not just Eggos. And, El, I want you to eat all the peas, even if they’re mushy and gross. And…I will be home soon.”_

_Tears pricked in your eyes, but before you could feel anything else, the vision vanished, and was replaced by another, one of El. She was in the same dark clothes, standing in an empty space, next to number eight. She was using her powers to lift a train car._

_It shifted, and now you saw Will, standing before a group of scientists in lab coats, with Joyce among them. He pointed to a strange drawing, and said, “There.”_

_The vision vanished again in a flash, and now there were men in yellow hazmat suits, searching for something in an underground tunnel. It looked similar to where you had seen Hopper before, wrapped in vines._

_You then saw a map on a screen, with red dots surrounding white dots._

_There was Joyce, screaming and crying about something you couldn’t see, and then Hopper coming in with a gun._

_The last vision, was one of Steve, getting his ass kicked by Billy Hargrove at a house you didn’t know. Steve’s face was red and bloody, and you swore Billy was going to beat him to death. You were all screaming at him so stop, you and the kids._

_***_

You woke up with a head-splitting headache, halfway through saying, “Stop it!” 

The vision of Steve’s beaten face was burned into your memory. The pain was stronger than the last time, and it took everything in you not to puke on Steve Harrington’s blue comforter. The fact that you were in a strange place didn’t make things any better.

The door burst open, and through it came the man of the hour. He flipped the light on, and you hissed at the brightness.

“Nina? I heard screaming.” When you finally got a good look at him, you saw that he was still in his pajamas, looking around the room for a threat, and was holding his bat in his hands.

“Calm down, it wasn’t a demogorgon,” you said through a raspy voice. From sleepiness, or from screaming, you weren’t sure. Maybe both.

He relaxed his shoulders and lowered the bat. “Then what happened?”

You threw the covers off of yourself and sat at the edge of the bed. With a sigh, you shot him a tired look and said, “I had a dream.”

“Oh,” then, realizing what this meant, his face dropped, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

You tried getting up from the bed quickly, but as soon as you straightened up, you got dizzy, and your vision was full of stars. You held the sides of your head to try and stop it from there, and fell back onto the bed.

“Woah, woah, woah.” You heard the clatter of the bat, and then footsteps, before hands were on your shoulders to steady you. You didn’t hesitate to hold onto him, because this time you were sure you’d pass out.

When the wave of dizziness went away, you looked up at Steve. He looked concerned, and you remembered that this was the first time he ever witnessed you having a vision. You were also suddenly reminded of the night you met, at the party. 

You had different visions then.

“You okay?” he asked.

You nodded, “Yeah, I will be. Sadly, this happens all the time.”

Granted, it didn’t start happening this much until recently, but you were starting to get used to it at this point. It was annoying, but you accepted it as your reality. The upsidedown was to blame.

He slowly took his hands off of you, as if to be sure that you weren’t going to fall over, then crossed his arms.

“What did you see?”

You looked towards the hallway. “We should probably wake up Dustin for this.”

***

The three of you sat around the kitchen island again, with bowls full of cereal in front of you. You told them both about the visions you had, at least the ones of importance to them. They didn’t need to know about El or Hopper’s message, but you did mention Will, the guys in Hazmat suits, and Billy.

“Fucking, Billy Hargrove,” Steve cursed.

“Yeah, I don’t know much about him other than he’s probably the worst person ever.” 

“That’s about as much as you need to know about him.”

“I still don’t know why or when some of this happens, or what it even means..yet.”

“Do you remember where it happens?”

You shrugged, “It was a house that I didn’t know. But we were all there. Not just us three, but I think Lucas, Mike, and that new girl, Max.”

“Max?” Dustin’s voice got higher. “What was Max doing there?”

“I’m guessing her brother is going to be wondering the same thing. However she ends up there, is still a mystery.” You sighed and put your fingers to your temples. “I didn’t think I’d have to play detective every single time I got one of these, but here we are.”

Steve worked his jaw, thinking.

“I guess we’ll have to deal with that when the time comes.” He said, getting up out of his seat. “Right now, we have some demogorgons to kill.”

You nodded, “If we can take these things down, then we won’t have to worry about them hurting anything or anyone else.”

***

You bought pounds of meat from the grocery store, cut it up into pieces, and put it into separate buckets for each of you to carry, and leave a trail of on your way to the junkyard. You wore yellow gloves to keep from touching the raw meat (although it was the smell that got you).

Steve managed to find you the perfect tool to use as a weapon, which was an axe he found at the hardware store. When you jokingly asked him if you could have a bat like his, he said it was, “One of a kind.” You had rolled your eyes at him, but took the axe. You liked it better anyway.

You weren’t sure what qualified as clothing for hunting down demogorgons, but you doubted overalls and a striped sweater that you wore yesterday was adequate. However, it was all you had to work with. After all, what mattered was that you swing the damn axe right when the time came.

Before you knew it, you were out on the train tracks, dumping raw meat onto them, with yellow gloves on your hands. Needless to say, it was the most bizarre thing you had ever done in your life. And you saw the future.

You were walking ahead of Steve and Dustin, the bucket of meat in one hand, and a backpack with your axe in it strapped to your shoulders. Both of the boys were a few feet behind you, going back and forth about this girl that Dustin had a crush on, who was apparently the reason he kept Dart in the first place, thinking he could impress her with it.

They argued with a tone that reminded you of you and Hopper. According to them, before today, they never hung out, but it didn’t seem like it when they were arguing like an old married couple. Or like a parent and his child. 

With a frown, you thought of Hopper and the vision you had of him, about what he said. That was the most sentimental you ever heard him get with you and El. He wasn’t exactly big on expressing his feelings and neither were you, but seeing him like that made your heart constrict.

You and El hadn’t exactly been easy on him with this whole isolation thing. It wasn’t his fault that he cared so much that he felt the need to protect you this much. But he also couldn’t blame you for wanting freedom. You were both at odds with one another.

Even if El didn’t get to hear his message, you did. And he was alive and safe, which was uplifting at least.

Part of the boys’ conversation interrupted your thoughts.

“The key with girls is just…just act like you don’t care.”

“Even if you do?”

“Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts.”

This part of the conversation caught your attention, and you perked your ear up.

_What kind of stupid….?_

You didn’t have any experience in dating whatsoever, or any solid examples of good romantic relationships, but you did see a big deal on TV with El, so you knew something. Also, you knew that internally, acting like you don’t care sounded like bullshit. You liked to think that girls had more self respect than that.

They kept blabbering on, saying more things that didn’t make sense to you, and you couldn’t help but interject. You turned around to fix them with an irritated expression.

“Is that really what you think all girls fall for, Harrington?”

He looked surprised by your question, but barely fazed, “Maybe not all of them, but in my experience? It works every time.”

“Listen, I might have zero dating experience given that I’m a freak of nature, but even I think that sounds stupid. Why not just be yourself?”

“Because being yourself sucks.”

You scoffed, “No, it doesn’t.”

_Some of us don’t have a choice._

“Okay, so you’d prefer a guy who comes across as desperate and clingy?”

“No,” you snapped, “I’d prefer someone who likes me for me, and isn’t afraid to be themselves. Not someone who treats me like shit because he’s trying to pretend that he doesn’t care about me, all because he’s hoping that I fall for him?? See how fucked up that logic is?”

Steve opened and closed his mouth shut, clearly at a loss for words. Dustin looked between the two of you as if he wanted to laugh, but held it in. You raised your eyebrows at Steve to further punctuate your statement, and then turned around to keep walking.

You vaguely heard Dustin say, “Damn, she destroyed you Harrington.”  
Followed by, “Shut up, Henderson.”

***

You arrived at the junkyard, which was littered with piles of scrap metal, trash, and abandoned cars. Most of them were rusted, or missing parts. Up ahead, past a patch of grass, was a large, red and white bus.

Steve nodded, you could tell he was impressed.

“Oh yeah. Yeah, this’ll do.” He took off his sunglasses and started walking into it. “This’ll do just fine. Good thing you saw this in your vision.”

You grinned, “Told you.”

Dustin was smiling wide with glee. Then you both followed Steve further into the junkyard, dropping pieces of raw meat as you went. At the center, you dumped the rest of it in a big pile. The smell and sound making your cringe in disgust.

Out of nowhere, you heard a voice coming from outside the yard.

“I said, Medium well!”

You all looked up towards where it came from, and by a pile of scrap metal, was Lucas Sinclair, with his bike, and the red headed new girl from California, Max. He waved at you all, and walked down to meet you in the middle.

“Who’s that?” Steve asked, referring to Max.

When he didn’t respond, both you and Steve looked at Dustin, only to find him frowning at the two kids coming over. You and Steve exchanged knowing glances.

So, Max was the girl he was talking about, and this was how she came into the picture.

_Damn._

You and Steve started piling things up against the empty bus, and it’s windows, building a wall of protection against the demodogs that would come later. Max helped out too, no questions asked, while Lucas and Dustin were busy talking amongst themselves behind an abandoned car. You vaguely heard Steve’s name mentioned, then something about the demogorgons, and then your name. Lucas’ head popped up to look at you, but when you saw him, he shot back down.

Annoyed by the lack of help, Steve banged a chair against the car, scaring the two.

“Hey, dickheads! How come the only one helping us out is this random girl? We lose light in forty minutes. Let’s go! Let’s go I said!” he ordered impatiently.

“Alright, asshole! God!”

“Okay, stupid!”

You snorted to yourself over the interaction. Steve was a dick about it, but he was right. You didn’t exactly have much time before this was all going to go down, and all they were doing was talking about Max (and you).

While you were reinforcing a window with large metal panel, you felt someone looking at you, so you glanced up. Just as you thought, Steve was gazing at you from the front of the bus, only to look away quickly when you caught him. His cheeks flared red, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel some heat in your own face.

_He probably thinks you hate him. Was I too harsh? No, I was just telling him the truth. Still, he probably thinks you hate him. But I don’t._

You rolled your eyes at yourself and shook your head.

_There’s fucking demodogs on the loose for Christ’s sake._

You spent the rest of the daylight rolling around barrels, putting sheets of metal and wire screens over the windows, and basically, using anything to help create protection and traps, to help you. You even put a ladder inside to be able to get on top of the roof for lookout. The last thing Steve had to do was lead a trail of gasoline from the pile of meat to the entrance of the bus, so one of you could light it when the time came.

When you were all done, you all went inside the bus, closed the door, and waited.

***

You were at the top of the bus with Lucas, overlooking the junkyard, which was now filled with a low, but dense fog. The cars and piles of junk were now mostly dark blobs, and the only light was from the moon, and a lamp a few yards away.

Your heart beat fast in anticipation and you cracked your knuckles nervously.

Lucas looked over at you from his binoculars.

“So, Dustin told me that you can see the future. Is that true?”

You nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, it’s true.”

You saw no point in hiding it now.

“He also said it’s because you come from the same place El did.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Is she alive? Do you know?”

You looked at him, and took a hesitant breath. By the end of all of this, you knew everyone would know anyways.

“Yeah, she’s alive.”

“Damn! Where is she then? We wouldn’t even have to worry about these things if she was here!”

“I know, I know. If she was here, I’d tell you guys, but she’s….handling something right now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She ran away, left Hawkins to find her real mom. But she’s coming back. Hopefully soon.”

“Oh…okay. I didn’t even know her real mom was alive.”

You sighed, “Me neither.”

There was silence, and then,

“Okay,” he shifted his body to face you, “Tell me something that’s going to happen in the future. Something about me, so I can believe you.”

You snorted, “You sure you wanna go there?”

“Yeah. Even if it’s bad. I wanna know.”

You rolled your eyes, but still, you smiled. “Fine…..Give me your hand.” 

He made a weird face. “What?”  
“Not like that. Sometimes, it helps to touch someone’s hand if I want to see their specific future.”

At that, he relaxed, and shrugged, “Okay.”

He gave you his hand and you took it. With that, you got dizzy, and visions flashed before you.

You saw Lucas, talking to Max on top of the bus and they were smiling. You saw him a while from now, screaming in the bus at something with everyone. You saw him at Will’s house, being pinned against a wall by Billy Hargrove. You saw him at a school dance, dancing with Max, and then leaning in to kiss her.

When they went away as quickly as they came, you let go of his hand, and blinked away the dizziness.

“Well?” he said expectantly. “What did you see?”

“Good news or bad news first?”

“Uhhh…good news.”

You looked down through the hatch in the roof to make sure no one was listening or coming up. When the coast was clear, you said,

“The good news is, I saw you and Max at a dance together.”

He gasped, “Are you for real? Me and-” you shushed him as he was getting too loud. “Me and Max?” he whispered.

You grinned at his excitement. “Yup. I guess she likes you a lot.”

He smiled but then pointed at you, “We’ll have to see if it comes true though.”

“Alright, but don’t tell anyone. That tends to change things.”

“Okay, I promise.” He was smiley, his eyes filled with wonder as he looked over the junkyard. Then he got serious and and looked at you again. “What’s the bad news?”

You frowned and anger filled you at the thought of the person you barely knew, but were already starting to hate. With a deep breath, you said, “If you see Billy Hargrove. You don’t hesitate, you run.”

***

When you were done talking to Lucas, you decided to go back into the bus and hide away from the cold autumn air as much as you could before it was go time. 

As you were climbing down the ladder, you could hear Steve playing with his lighter. 

“Nothing yet?” he asked.

You leaned against the wall across from him. “Nope. Not yet.”

You locked eyes, and then you averted to the lighter in his hands. You held out your hand, and after clicking the lid shut, he placed it in your palm. You ran your fingers over the metal, that was warm from his touch, and then you started flipping it open, lighting it and then shutting it as he did.

You could feel him looking at you the whole time, while you focused on the flame. 

“So, you really fought one of these things before?” Max suddenly said to him. Steve glanced over at her and simply nodded.

“And you’re like, totally, 100% sure it wasn’t a bear?”

Other than you, she was the only stranger of the group. But unlike you, she knew nothing about what happened last year, or about the demogorgons, so she didn’t believe anything you guys tried to explain to her about the whole situation.

_Wait ‘til you can find out I can see the future, kid. Or when you meet El._

However, Dustin didn’t take her questioning too well.

“Shit. Don’t be an idiot. Okay? It wasn’t a bear.” He snapped. “Why are you even here if you don’t believe us? Just go home.”

You were taken aback, as was Steve. Max looked nearly unbothered by his words.

Instead of getting angry or defensive, she got up from her seat and responded with sarcasm. “Geesh. Someone’s cranky. Past your bedtime?”

She went up the ladder, towards the roof of the bus, and disappeared. When she was gone, you whirled around on Dustin.

“What was that?”

“Was that you showing that you don’t care?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, because I don’t,” Dustin said with finality.

“Right, because that totally worked,” you said facetiously. 

“I wasn’t doing it that way,” he huffed in frustration and sat down on one of the benches in silence.

You watched him with concern, before deciding to just leave it alone. With a sigh, you looked at Steve and pointed to the empty space next to him.

“Can I sit there?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course.” he scooted over to give you more room, and you lowered yourself down next to him. The bench was broken and shorter than it used to be, so your shoulders were brushing together.

You handed him back his lighter and he took it back deftly. 

After a beat of silence, he lowered his voice to speak to you as privately as he could.

“Hey, I just, wanted to say sorry for that stupid shit I said on the traintracks. Just because it’s worked for me in some fucked up way, doesn’t make it cool. You’re clearly very different and shit like that wouldn’t work on you, so it clearly doesn’t apply to everyone.”

You giggled, “It’s okay, Harrington. I forgive you. You can’t help that you’re a guy.”

He chuckled, “No. No, I cannot.”

“I mean, it also didn’t work on Max, so you’re 0 for 2.”

“You really think that didn’t work?”

You scrunched up your nose and gave him an uneasy smile. “She really wasn’t into it.”

He lifted his arms and dropped them. “Well, shit.”

You patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, Steve. There’s other ways of wooing a girl, and I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Excuse me, I have it at least partially figured out. Okay? I had a girlfriend, remember?”

“Did you use the ‘Act like you don’t care’ method?”

He tilted his head, “Actually no. But she was different.”

“I’m sure she was.”

“Then again, we’re not together anymore.” He pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Still, I rest my case,” you leaned back against the bench.

He continued to play with is lighter, but then suddenly shut it again.

“You know, I was thinking,” he said suddenly, and twisted his body to face you better. “Did you know that they have books that are filled with just baby names?”

You scoffed in amusement. “Yeah, and? You’re not pregnant are you?”

“Ha, funny,” he deadpanned, but then continued. “No, I’m saying this, because I was thinking you could buy one to help you choose a new name. They have the meanings and everything. You could circle the ones you like, and then narrow it down to one.”

“Huh,” you mused, “I didn’t know those existed. That’s actually a pretty good idea, Harrington.”

“You see? Henderson isn’t the only one with brains.”

The curly haired boy scoffed, “You wish.”

Steve ignored him. 

“Were you actually thinking about this ever since I told you?” you asked.

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I mean it’s pretty shitty that you don’t get to have your own name. Right?”

You regarded him with awe, you felt so many emotions you didn’t know what to do with yourself. First, he offered to make you a tape of music, and now this genius suggestion? Why was he so sweet? He could be such an asshole, but that wasn’t all he was. Was it?

You nodded slowly, “Yeah, it’s shitty.”

There was a loud roar from the distance, which made you all jump out of your seats in fright. The three of you ran to the window that was protected by a wire screen you fastened to it, and squeeze next to each other to see through it. You scanned the junkyard beyond, through the fog, but there was no sign of movement.

“You see him?” Dustin asked.

“No,” Steve breathed.

“Lucas! You see anything?”

“Hold on!” The boy’s muffled voice came from above.

There was silence, except for the beat of your own hearts as you waited in anticipation.

Then, he yelled, “I’ve got eyes! Ten o’clock! T-ten o’clock!”

You all looked to the left, and Steve pointed with his finger, to a dark figure with the silhouette of a large dog.

“What’s he doing?” you asked.

“I don’t know.” he said. “Where the rest of them?”

“I don’t know,” you gasped.

You waited and waited for it to come to the center, to go to the meat pile so you could light it up, but it never did.

“He’s not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?” Steve asked in panic.

“Maybe he’s not hungry,” Dustin quipped.

But you and Steve knew better than that. You knew how this was going to end, and he remembered it clearly.

He looked at you and said, “Maybe he’s sick of cow.”

You nodded grimly. “We knew how this was going to play out. I told you.”

“Yeaaah I was just hoping we changed something and it wouldn’t have to.”

He pushed away from the window and walked towards the door of the bus, you followed closely behind. He grabbed his bat, and then handed you your axe.

“Guys!” Dustin called out to you worriedly.

Steve took out his lighter from his pocket and threw it at Dustin, who caught it in his hands.

“Just get ready.”

Steve put his hand on the door and then gave you a nod, with an expression that asked if you were ready, just like back at the cellar.

You nodded, “Ready when you are.”

Despite the fact that he looked scared shitless, and you felt the same way, he pushed the door open and the two of you stepped out into the cold junkyard.

You kept a tight grip around the wooden handle of your axe as you walked a few feet behind Steve. While he kept his eyes on the demodog ahead, you scanned the area for any sign of the others. At this point, you weren’t sure if you were shaking from the cold, or from fear.

You could hear the strange chittering noise coming from the demodog, it was familiar from your dreams. Steve whistled at it, like it was some regular animal.

“Come on, buddy.” He swung his bat from hand to hand. “Where are the rest of your friends, huh?”

A second chittering sound came from your left side, and it straightened you up. But you saw nothing there.

“Come on buddy,” Steve kept saying. “Human tastes better than cat. I promise.”

The fog cleared, giving you a better view of Dart. A demodog with a strange mouth, a tail like a lizard, and yellow striped going down its back. The noises it made, made your skin crawl, and you were a reminded of a vision where one of them attacked you head on.

Your eyes flashed to Steve, to Dart, and to the other noise you heard earlier.

“Steve-” you began to whisper, but were interrupted my Lucas’ screaming.

“Steve, Nine! Watch out! The others are here! Three o’clock! Three o’clock!”

You whipped your head in that direction, just as you had heard it, and right there, on top cars and piles of junk, were three other demodogs. With a sneer, you turned your body towards them, axe raised.

“There you are you little bastards.”

“Shit, Nina,” Steve hissed.

“We got this,” you said, maybe a little too overconfident for your own good.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah.”

“You know we don’t have to do this, right? We can just go back to the bus.”

“And then what? Wait for them to eat us? What happened to the Steve Harrington from five minutes ago who was whistling at them?”

“Logic and reasoning came back to him, that’s what.”

The demodogs started to growl, and you could tell they were preparing to attack.

Steve sighed, “Ready when you are.”

Dart was the first one to lunge, but Steve dodged it by rolling onto the hood of a car. When it came back towards him, he was able to land his bat on it, and send it backwards. 

The other three came running towards you, and Steve was at your side, ready to hit another one. You swung your axe at the nearest one. It let out a strange cry when you managed to get a good hit, and blood splattered on your face.

With a few more hits from Steve’s bat, it was dead. 

Dart came lunging at him again, and another one at you. It became a bloody dance of dodges, hits, and screams. Out of all of them, Dart seemed to be the smartest, and was the hardest to beat. And just when you thought you were getting closer to taking them down, more and more seemed to pop out of nowhere. 

You were getting frustrated, as was Steve.

“There’s too many of them! Where are they coming from?” 

“I don’t know!” You screamed as you cut the head off of another one.

You heard the metal of the bus door opening, followed by Dustin yelling, “Abort! Abort! There’s too many of them!”

You ignored his warnings, wanting to keep killing as many of them as you possibly could. But you were getting tired, and the fog was making it harder to see.

“Nine!” Lucas yelled.

There was the sound of a growl behind you, and you barely had time to turn and raise your axe before one of the creatures jumped on top you, and knocked you down on the ground. With the wind knocked out of your lungs, and it’s full weight on you, you could barely breathe. It’s claws dug into your skin, on your legs and your arms, and you screamed as it’s large petaled mouth opened up to reveal rows upon rows of teeth. 

Still, you fought back as much as your strength allowed. It tried to bite at you, but you were able to hold your axe in your hands as a barrier. You pushed and shoved, but it was too strong, and you could swear that it was going to tear you to shreds, eat you like a piece of meat.

This is what you get for interfering too much. This is what you get for getting way in over your head. And if the others see, you’d be a goner.

But, no. Just as you thought this was the end, Steve’s bat connected with the beast’s side, and sent it soaring through the air with a screech. 

Without wasting anymore time, he grabbed your hand, pulled you to your feet and said, “Run!”

You didn’t really have an option, as he was tugging you along with him. All you did was try your best to keep up, as a pair of demodogs chased after you, snapping it’s mouths at your heels. The kids were screaming at you to hurry, the door getting closer and closer, until Steve collapsed inside, with you on top of him, and Dustin shut the door just in time.

Not a second later, a body crashed against it, followed by the most feral sounds.

The two of you scrambled to sit up.

“The metal! The metal!” Steve said to you, pointing to a sheet of metal that was against the windshield.

You pulled it away with shaking hands, and shoved it against the door to create a barrier, and pushed it with your feet to keep it in place. You fought with your strength against that of the demodogs, and Steve did the same thing to help.

“They can’t get in! They can’t!” Lucas screamed.

After that Max asked a stupid question you all chose to ignore through the chaos.

Suddenly, there was a large bang, and the bus started tosway over to the side, sending you all screaming backwards, away from the door. You and Steve got up from the floor of the bus and looked around with wide eyes, when suddenly, there was another bang, and the glass of the door shattered as a demodogs head broke through.

Everyone freaked out, and the kids ran further into the bus for safety. You grabbed your axe, and furiously went at the alien with it, slashing at it before it could do any kind of damage. You could hear Dustin trying to communicate through his radio, more crashes as more demodogs tried to get in, and screams.

Suddenly it was quiet, and then, loud footfalls on the roof. Everyone looked up, following the sound, and Max, who was at the base of the ladder, screamed bloody murder at the sight of what was, in fact, an alien, looking down at her from the emergency exit. 

Steve, with his bat, pushed her to the side and raised his bat menacingly at it. You watched from the other side of the ladder in horror.

“You want some? Come and get this!”

The demodog screeched in his face and you could see it’s mouth coming down, and spit dripping from it. You raised your axe, ready for anything, but then the creature stopped, out of nowhere. 

And just as out of the blue, you doubled over, as pain reverberated in your head.

“Aah!” You exclaimed, dropping the axe with clatter. Your grabbed your head with your hands, and you could hear numerous voices calling your name.

“Nine?”

“Nina!”

You could barely hear them through a weird haze that made everything sound like you were underwater. And suddenly, you were in the upside down. 

You were in the middle of the junkyard, in front of the bus, but you were alone, and everything was covered in vines and the air was filled with white flecks. The demodogs were there, and they were running away, towards something else. 

Up, in the sky, beyond the red clouds, was the giant spider like monster. It’s attention was away from you now, and it was looking somewhere else.

Visions came.

The first, a painful one, was the exterior of Hawkins Labs, which you knew too well. You saw the groups of people in hazmat suits walking through a strange underground tunnel. You saw Joyce and Mike, talking to Will who was in a hospital bed. He was crying and saying, “They shouldn’t have done that. They shouldn’t have made him mad.” Then it cut away to Mike, running down the halls, yelling, “It’s a trap! I have to tell them!”. Then, to your horror, you saw Bob, Joyce’s boyfriend, getting torn to shreds by a demodog, and dying as a result of that trap. You saw Billy Hargrove again, attacking Steve and then turning on you. You saw El and Hopper, standing before a red opening with her hand out, closing whatever it was. And then you saw Will, sweating, crying, with a bunch of heaters surrounding him. A voice whispered in the background, “He likes it cold. He doesn’t like the heat.”

Voices and images blended together, and it overwhelmed you to the point of tears and nausea. You squeezed your eyes shut and willed it to stop until it started to fade away, and you slowly began to hear Steve’s voice through it all.

“Nina. Nina, open your eyes.”

“What’s wrong with her?”  
“Is she dead?”

“No, she’s not dead. I think she’s having a vision.”

“A what?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t this bad last time,” Steve said. You could hear the worry in his voice.

Suddenly you became aware of the hard surface of the bus beneath your legs, the stinging of scratches all over your body, and your torso up against something less hard, but just as sturdy. Someone’s body. Arms were around you, trying to shake you awake. 

“Nina,” he whispered close to your face, and you realized it was Steve that was holding you. “Nina, come on. You’re starting to scare me.”

Although heavy, you managed to peel your eyes open now, and come back to reality. The grogginess went away, but your brain felt like lead. You looked up and saw all three kids standing over you and Steve, who was holding you against his chest on the floor. His face was hovering over yours, big brown eyes searching in concern. They all had the same expression.

When you woke up, they breathed a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” you asked, looking around, confused at the sudden silence and lack of demogorgons around. 

“Well, one of those things was about to come down here and eat us, when suddenly you started crying out..like you were in pain. We tried talking to you, but…you wouldn’t respond. You just kind of, passed out. We thought you got bit or something.”

“We thought you were dead,” Dustin cried.

“He’s exaggerating, we didn’t think you were dead.”

“I thought you were having a seizure,” Max added.

Steve had the look of an annoyed older brother.

You were preoccupied with something else. “What about the demodogs? What happened?”

Steve shrugged, “They just…left. At the same time that you passed out, they ran off.”

“What? Why? Did you see where?”

They all shook their heads, some shrugged.

Dustin said, “We were worried about you, so we didn’t get a chance to see.”

You sat up with a groan, but stayed in Steve’s lap.

“Easy,” he said softly. His eyes went to your upper lip. “Your nose is bleeding.” He looked back to the kids. “Does anyone have a tissue or something?”

Lucas took out one of his bandanas from his pocket and handed it to Steve. You took it from him, and used it to wipe at your nose. When you looked down at the bandana, there was a spot of red blood there. Your eyes widened in surprise.

_That hasn’t happened in years._

“Shit.”

“Is that normal?” he asked.

You shook your head, “Not anymore. It usually happens when a vision takes a lot out of me, which used to happen more when this whole thing was still new. Now, it’s just headaches and dizziness.”

“I mean it did look like you were in pretty bad shape. Way different from this morning.”

Still feeling the headache, you nodded at him. “I haven’t felt that much pain in years. Which can’t be a good sign.”

“Why?” he stuttered.

“Whatever that thing is, the thing controlling all of this. The upside down and the demodogs, whatever’s possessing Will…it’s getting closer to what it wants. It’s getting stronger.”

“Shit,” Dustin cursed.

“Wait what?” Max interjected.

“What are we supposed to do?” Lucas piped in.

“Well, that’s the good news,” you smirked hopefully.

Steve furrowed his brow, “What is it? What did you see?”

“I do know where they’re going. I know where this thing is, and I know how to stop it.”


	6. Soft Brown Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you all struggle to get into the lab, and then everyone involved regroups back at the Byers house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some good Hopper x Nine as well as Steve x Nine convos, so you're welcome
> 
> Warnings: Cussing, fluff, angst, minor violence, descriptions of blood and wounds

The five of you shuffled through the dark woods, following the train tracks once more. The junkyard was long gone behind you, and you were eager to get to the next location. You were ahead of the group yet again, except this time you were walking at a much more rapid pace, with your axe in hand and a determined look in your eye.

“Nina, slow down!” Steve called out.

Without changing momentum, you called back, “I can’t slow down! The longer we take, the more time we waste, and the more people those things kill.”

“And you said who was there?” Lucas asked.

“Joyce, Hopper, Will, Mike, Bob, and who knows who else.”

“And the only one you actually saw get killed was Bob?”

“Yup. But I think we’ve learned that my visions have missing pieces.”

“Well, shit.”

Steve picked up the pace, and strode over to you so he was by your side now. He lowered his voice to speak to you only.

“Listen, I get that we’re on a time clock, but…you know you just got attacked by a demodog and then passed out from a vision like five minutes ago. Right?”

“I get why you’re worrying, but I’m fine,” you managed to smile at him. “At least right now, while I’m running on pure adrenaline, and stubbornness. If I sit down, I might fall into a coma.”

He snorted a laugh, “I’ll make sure to keep you upright then.”

His laugh gave you dejavu, and made you smile.

With a few grumbles of protest, the kids caught up, and Max started to ask Dustin about Dart. He explained that he knew it was him because of the yellow stripes (which you knew from your visions). He also explained how he had molted three times already, and wasn’t sure when he would molt again into his final size. With a mention of Dart eating Dustin’s cat, Lucas finally found out that Dustin had actually been keeping Dart at his house even after his friends told him not to.

It ended in a fight you and Steve weren’t in the mood for.

“You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!” Lucas yelled.

“So did you!” Dustin argued.

“What?”

“You told the stranger the truth!” The curly-haired boy pointed his flashlight in Max’s eyes.

She scoffed, “A stranger?”

“You wanted to tell her too!” Lucas said. “Besides, you’re the one who told Nine about the truth!”

Now it was your turn to scoff, “Actually, I already knew. Hopper told me. So don’t rope me into this.”

You and Max exchanged annoyed expressions, clearly done with the boys’ shenanigans. The only good one being Steve at this moment. 

You walked over to him, and noticed that he was distracted, looking at something in the direction you had been heading towards. He was pointing his flashlight at the trees.

You followed his line of sight, but shook your head when you saw nothing.

“What are you looking it at?”

“Shhh…listen.”

You frowned, but did as he said, and listened. When you heard it, the sound of cars rushing by, and the screeching of tires, you couldn’t help but grin in excitement. 

You had to be close.

You looked at Steve, and then rushed off towards the sound. He didn’t bother to call after you, and instead, called the kids over.

Beyond the trees, away from the train tracks, you came across a small cliff, overlooking more of the forest. To the left was a thin, winding road, with cars sporadically driving by. You followed the direction, until you found the building you were looking for, past a thick cloud of fog.

Instinctively, your heart constricted. Even in the darkness, you knew the outline all too well. Hawkins International Laboratory. Your hand went to your wrist, where the tattoo was.

Behind you, you heard the crunching of twigs and leaves, telling you that everyone was caught up.

“I don’t see anything,” Dustin said.

You pointed to the black cluster that stood out from the trees. “Over there.”

Lucas raised his binoculars to his eyes and pointed them in that direction. He nodded, and said, “It’s the lab.”

You nodded, feeling triumphant, but also scared, “They’re going back home.”

***

You managed to get to the perimeter of the lab quicker now that everything was downhill, and the kids were actually trying to keep up and weren’t arguing. 

However, the closer you got, the more you could feel your anxiety start to get worse. It was something about this place. Maybe it was the vibration of the upside down, or maybe it was the memories causing some kind of physical reaction. 

You just had to remind yourself that Dr. Brenner was dead and that nobody could do those things to you anymore. The only thing that mattered was killing this thing, and saving everyone.

When you reached the high, barb-wire fence, you followed it until you got closer and closer and came around to the entrance. The gate was closed, and beyond it you could see the lab. Even from a distance you could see the lights flickering on and off inside.

“Something’s happening,” you said, and looked at Steve with wide eyes. He pressed his lips into a grim line.

“There’s buttons over here!” Dustin said from behind you.

You both whirled around, and the three kids were all trying to get inside of the small booth that was meant for security to let cars through. You both jogged over there, and peered into the small room. Dustin was furiously pressing three red buttons that were labeled for the gate, but none of them seemed to work.

“It’s not opening.”

“Damn it!” you hissed, slapping your hand on the door frame. You turned back to the lab, through the gate. It was all dark, save for the flickering lights.

“The power must be out.”

“How the hell are we gonna get in, then?” Steve asked.

You furrowed your brow, and chewed nervously on your thumb nail. Your mind went elsewhere, looking for any good ideas that didn’t involve wire cutters, or hacking into the power. When you landed on one, a crazy, but possible idea, you dropped your hand and walked up to the gate.

You scanned it with your eyes, specifically the barbed wire at the top. The climb wouldn’t be the hardest part, but the spikes obviously would. Still, you contemplated it. After all, it wouldn’t be your first time jumping a fence.

_Damn it, El. Where the hell are you? I could really use you right now._

“Nina,” Steve elongated the last vowel worriedly, “You’re not thinking of doing something stupid are you?”

You kept your eyes on the fence. “On a scale of one to ten, how crazy would I be if I climbed this thing?”

“There’s barbed wire, Nina. I’d say twelve.”

You looked back at all of them, who were all looking at you like you grew a second head. But any ounce of embarrassment or shame left in your body was gone. This was life or death, you couldn’t just sit here and wait for the power to come back on.

“What if it’s our only shot?”

“Are you crazy?” Lucas shouted.

“Got any better ideas?” you shot back at him. You looked at Steve, who was looking up at the fence now too. “Look, it’s possible if we just…”

You trailed off, distracted by the sight of headlights coming from up the road, heading towards you all. At the sound of a car engine, everyone else looked it’s way, and you all watched as the car got closer and closer and came to a stop right before the bar that let you into the gate.

You held your breath. It wasn’t a car you recognized, so you didn’t know who it could possibly be. Steve, however, seemed to know exactly who it was.

“What the hell…?” he muttered under his breath.

Both the driver and passenger door opened, and out of them popped up Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers.

“Steve?” they both gasped at the sight of the big haired brunette. 

“Nancy?” Steve said next to you.

“Jonathan,” Dustin added.

Jonathan then looked at you and looked almost as taken aback as he did when he saw Steve. “Nina?”

You all walked towards each other, and met in the middle by the kiosk. Nancy seemed especially flabbergasted by the presence of her ex boyfriend with a bunch of kids and a strange girl, in front of a lab no less.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Steve repeated back.

“We’re looking for Mike and Will.”

“They’re not in there are they?” Jonathan implored.

You nodded, “They are. That’s why we’re here too. We have to save them.”

Nancy closed her eyes, clearly not understanding what you mean. “Save them? Save them from what?”

On cue, a loud, monstrous screech coming from the lab echoed throughout the forest. It startled you all, and pulled your attention. Your heart dropped.

_No. No, no, no._

“We have to get in there, then,” Nancy said, and marched over to the booth. No doubt to try and open the door.

“It’s no use. The power’s out.” Dustin advised.

Still, she tried pushing the buttons, but nothing happened. She muttered curses under her breath.

You turned to Jonathan. “You don’t happen to have any wire cutters in your car, do you?”

He shook his head apologetically, “No, I don’t.”

You rolled your eyes in frustration and turned to look back through the gate again. Behind you, you could hear the chatter of everyone trying to fill each other in as much as they could on what happened. You knew you probably should’ve chimed in, as you were the one who knew more than anyone, but you were too preoccupied to do that.

Then, like magic, big lights turned on around the lab, illuminating the building. You gasped, and your heart beat fast in excitement.

“Guys! The power’s back on!”

Everyone’s attention snapped to the lab, and then immediately, Jonathan ran to the booth and started pressing buttons. You waited in anticipation, but nothing happened. By the time Dustin insisted on trying himself, your chest had already deflated and you had already made up your mind.

“Steve?” 

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna do it,” you admitted with determination.

He raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. What else are we going to do? You know what happens in there and I refuse to stay out here and wait like a sitting duck.”

“And do you have a plan as to how you’re going to climb that without hurting yourself?”

You smirked, “Actually I do.”

You turned around, and marched over to Jonathan’s car. Without even asking, you opened the door, reached below the seats, and grabbed the floor mats from both sides.

“What are you doing?” Max asked.

With a mat in each hand, you walked back over towards the gate.

“I’m going inside, that’s what I’m doing.”

“Using floor mats from a car?”

“Yup. It’s gonna serve as protection from getting cut by the wire.”

Steve looked taken aback. “Have you done this before?”

You stood in front of the gate, giving it one more up and down scan with your eyes, bracing yourself.

“Once. When I escaped this place.”

But you didn’t have protection then. You had scratches on your legs for weeks.

Nancy, who was behind him, watched in befuddlement as you walked up to the gate.

“What is she gonna do?”

“She’s gonna jump it,” he said plainly.

“Are you serious?” 

Steve nodded. There was a contemplative look in his eyes, before he took a deep breath and walked over to your side.

“Fine. But I’m going with you.”

You snapped your head towards him so fast, you almost hurt yourself.

“What?”

“The plan was to do this together, right? You can’t do this alone.”

Nancy chimed in behind you, “I’m coming too. There’s no way I’m waiting here either.”

“Our brothers are in there, and my mom. We’re going,” Jonathan argued.

You were surprised, to say the least, but in a good way. You grinned at them, and gave them a curt nod before deciding to go for it. However, before you could take another step towards the gate, the metal creaked, and it started to open by itself.

Slack-jawed, you all looked at Dustin, who raised his hands and said, “Wasn’t us.”

Steve snorted, “Or we can just walk right on through.”

“Or drive.” Not wanting to waste another second, Nancy went to the passenger side of Jonathan’s car and yelled, “Come on, get in the car!!”

Both her and Jonathan got in the front seats, while you hopped into the back. Steve was about to get in, but with a glance at the kids, he got a sudden worried, protective look to him.

“You know what? I think I’m gonna stay here with them. In case something happens.”

You made a gesture of agreement. “Good idea. We’ll pick you up back here.”

“Okay,” he nodded, “Now go.”

Jonathan stepped on the gas and sped off towards the lab. You had your axe in hand, and squeezed it tight. 

As you watched the lab get closer, you felt sick to your stomach.

Nancy glanced back at you through the rearview mirror. “Step on it Jonathan, will you?”

“I’m trying!”

When you got to the entrance, your face was full of shock. Hopper was dragging a screaming Joyce out of the lab, while Mike carried an unconscious Will in his arms. Demodogs were crashing against the glass doors, trying to get out.

Jonathan honked his horn multiple times at them as he pulled up.

“Get in!” he shouted.

You got out of the car to go to Hopper, and to leave the seats for Joyce, Mike, and Will. Upon seeing you, Hopper’s jaw dropped.

“Nine? What the hell. What are you doing here?”

His eyes ran over your face, which no doubt still had dried blood from the demodogs, and parts of your clothes that were torn where there were scratches, and then the axe in your hand. You probably looked like a mess. 

You could tell he had a million questions, but the sounds of alien monsters trying to break free behind him snapped him out of it. He motions to his truck with his head. 

“We have to go.”

He rushed to the truck, and you were about to do the same, except you found yourself stopping to take a glance inside the lab. You weren’t sure why you did it, maybe masochism, or plain curiosity, but you regretted it instantly.

Because there, a few yards away, was what remained of Bob Newby. He was lifeless now, and covered in blood and guts. Tears blurred your vision and you were frozen in place.

_I’m sorry_, you wanted to cry. _I’m sorry I was too late._

“Nine!! What are you doing?” Hopper’s gruff, and frustrated voice cut through you, and jolted you back to reality. 

You ran to the passenger side, and slid right in, next to Hopper. As soon as you slammed the door shut, Hopper put the petal to the metal and took off behind Nancy and Jonathan. You only stopped with a startling screech of the tires, to pick up Steve and the kids by the gate.

“Get in!” you and Hopper shouted.

You got out of the truck and let everyone into the back, one by one. When the cab was loaded, you jumped back inside, followed by Steve, who took the space next to you. When Hopper took off, Steve waited a moment to ask you.

“Bob?” he asked quietly.

You glanced at him through your periphery, not wanting to let him see any tears. You clenched your jaw, and shook your head. Your silence was enough of an answer to him, and he let out a disappointed sigh.

You could feel Hopper looking at you, but you kept your eyes on the road.

Halfway to your destination, the millions of questions started to get asked. Most of them were from the kids, and Hopper did his best to explain everything despite how irritated you could tell he was. 

You already knew most of it, due to your visions. About Will, and the tests, and how he lied about there being something important down in the tunnels, which is how the demodogs got to them. Steve and Dustin already knew some of it too, but not all.

When he was done, it was your guys’ turn to tell him your side of things, as well as the visions you had. You could tell by the disapproving parental look in his eyes that he wanted to yell at you for running off when he told you not to, especially when you told him you got hurt. Or for not telling him about El sooner, but he didn’t want to get into it in front of Steve and the kids.

When you got to the Byers’ house, however, he pulled you into Will’s room, and the two of you finally talked after two days of not seeing each other.

“You know, I thought I told you to stay out of this,” he said.

“You did, but I chose to ignore the suggestion on account that I thought it was stupid.”

“Oh, me worrying about your safety is a stupid suggestion?”

“No, but I’m alive aren’t I?”

“Based on the blood and scratches, I’d say barely.” He ran a hand over his face. “You got attacked by a demogorgon?”

“Yeah,” you admitted, “If it wasn’t for Steve, I’d probably be dead.”

“That’s another thing,” he said, glancing at the door, where everybody else was on the other side, “Steve Harrington? Out of all the people in this town, I didn’t think you’d become buddies with Steve Harrington.”

“Why is that such a bad thing? It’s not like he’s a criminal,” you whispered sharply. “He was the only other person around who knew about any of this, and who could help. And he did, he got shit done. He saved my life, Hop!”

“I know, I know,” he said calmly, his nostrils flaring. “It’s just…”

“Just what?” You crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow at him. “Nothing happened if that’s what you’re suggesting. We just fought demodogs together.”

“And that was it?”

“Yes!” you yelled a little too loud, and you were hoping the walls weren’t too thin. Then you lowered your voice. “Are we really having this conversation right now? We have a fucking monster to get rid of.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, fine. I’m sorry.”

You were taken aback by the apology.

“I’m sorry for being such a jerk. To you and El both.” He sucked in a breath. “It’s because of me that she’s out there somewhere now.”

“I know where she is. She’s safe,” you reassured, “She just needed to find things out for herself.”

He lowered himself down on the bed, his face grim. “Maybe I shouldn’t have kept all those things from her. About her mother. I was just trying to-”

“I know,” you said, “I know why you did it. I heard your message on the radio. Well, kind of. I heard it in a vision.”

He raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. 

“I know I don’t say it, but I care about the both of you, Nine. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to either of you. It’s the only reason I did what I did. And I know that maybe I crossed a line, but…”

You could see his eyes getting red with tears, and you didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that he was thinking about the daughter he lost a long time ago, to cancer. He only mentioned her once, but it was clear that her death impacted him more than anything. After that, he was alone.

Now, he had two daughters, and you saw now why he felt the need to keep you safe. It was more than just the normal parental protection, it was not wanting history to repeat itself again. No matter the circumstances.

“I know,” you whispered this time.

In two strides, you walked over to him, and hugged him around his shoulders. It was surprising for you both. You never really hugged anyone, not even El, but this felt right. Hopper gave you a home, and a tiny family when nobody else did. He took you in, and cared for you like nobody else in your life ever had. And he understood. He understood what you and El went through. 

He had his daughter torn away from him, and you and El were torn away from your own parents. You were three people with messed up pasts, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

He wrapped his arms around you, and held you tight. You closed your eyes to hold back tears, mostly because there were so many others in the house, and you didn’t want them to see you. But your efforts were for not.

When you felt secure enough, you pulled away from him, and wiped your eyes.

“Okay, stop crying, or else I’m gonna cry, and then everyone’s gonna know we actually can cry.”

Hopper chuckled through a sniffle. “Can’t let that happen. I have a reputation to keep.”

“Right,” you giggled, and then smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you.”

He snorted, “It’s okay. Just, try to listen to me at least a little bit, next time. Alright?”

“Eh, I’ll do my best. But you know why I had to do all this, right? You can’t keep me cooped up there forever.”

“Yeah, I know. I think I’m officially learning not to underestimate either of you.”

You smirked, a little too pleased with yourself, “Good.”

“Now get yourself cleaned up, because you look like a victim from a horror movie. I have some calls to make.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, sarcastically drawled, “Thanks.”

You let Hopper get up from the bed, and you both exited Will’s room and walked down the hallway. To get to the bathroom, you passed by the living room. Steve was standing by the couch, and when he noticed you his face seemed to light up. 

Or was that a figment of your imagination?

You smiled at him, and he smiled back, before going to clean yourself up.

When you were standing in front of the bathroom mirror, over the sink, you realized what Hopper was talking about. 

There were blood spatters on your face and neck from the demodogs you managed to kill, as well as dirt in your hair from when you fell on the ground. The parts of your clothes that were torn, were the collar of your shirt and the legs of your overalls, and they were stained with dried blood. You weren’t sure how deep the cuts were, but they stung.

You sighed, and got started on washing your face and fixing your hair. When you dried yourself off and glanced in the mirror again, you looked semi-normal again. Now all you had to deal with was your claw marks, and figure out what you were going to do about your clothes.

There was a sudden knock at the door.

“Come in,” you said, unsure which of the many people you were going to get behind the door.

To your happy surprise, it was Steve. He was holding a white box in his hands with a red cross on the front.

“I grabbed the first aid kit from Hopper’s truck. Figured you might need it.”

“Thanks,” you said, and took the box from him.

“Oh, and this towel,” there was a towel on his shoulder, and he handed it to you.

You took both and opened up the box full of bandages on top of the toilet, to have better access. You half expected Steve to leave, but instead, he leaned against the doorframe.

“Uhhh…everything good…with Hopper? He didn’t look too happy earlier when you told him everything.”

You hummed, “He wasn’t, but we talked about it and we’re good now. I think he’s just happy that I’m alive at this point.”

“And uhhh…everything good with…you? Are you okay?”

“Some cuts and bruises, but I’m still breathing.”

You took the towel, and ran it under the faucet until it was completely soaked in water, and then rang it out. With it in your hand, you turned back to the mirror, and slowly pulled down the bloodied collar of you shirt, to reveal the claw marks on either side of your collarbones. 

It was still red, and irritated around the openings, but the blood was beginning to dry. You couldn’t help but wince.

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

You busied yourself with the wet towel in your hands as the memory of Bob’s body flashed before your eyes. 

“I couldn’t save him,” you whispered. “I thought I could get there, but it was too late. By the time Jonathan pulled up, Joyce was screaming and crying, and Bob was already dead.”

“You did everything you could considering all the shit that was thrown at us.”

“Did I?” you looked up at him finally. “Because I can’t help feeling like it was my fault.”

He sputtered, “Wh-Why would it be your fault?”

“Because I knew it was going to happen, and I couldn’t stop it. Now Joyce lost the love of her life because of me.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” he said, stepping closer to you. “You weren’t the one that killed him, Nina. Those monsters did. And you found out about it, 30 minutes before it happened. You can’t seriously be blaming yourself.”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, feeling a lump forming in your throat. “It’s kind of hard not to.”

“Are you kidding me?” he asked, now facing you in front of the sink. “You were going to jump over a barbed wire fence to get there. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s first instinct was to do that.” Because you were trying to hide your eyes, he leaned in closer to you, to catch your gaze. Giving in, you looked up at him, your eyes watery. He had the softest, most reassuring brown eyes in the whole world. “It was out of your control. It wasn’t your fault.”

You couldn’t find it in yourself to argue any further. Not with the way he was looking at you, and the way the was saying it, and the way he was making you feel. So, you nodded simply and blinked away the tears before they became streams.

“Okay,” you said softly. “Fine.”

He stood up straighter and nodded, pleased with this answer.

You stood there for a moment, with only a few feet between the two of you, gazing at each other. It was an absent-minded thing, you didn’t even mean to do it, and maybe neither did he, but still, you did it.

Your heart lurched and you had to avert your eyes and change the subject. You pointed to your collarbones, and said,

“I should probably bandage these up or something.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” he stammered.

You turned back to the mirror and started to wipe away the blood with the towel, and hissed as it stung. It gave way to a change of subject, which you were grateful for.

“I’m gonna have scars for the rest of my life.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad thing. They make you look badass.”

You couldn’t help but smile as you put the towel down and started unpacking some bandages to use.

“You think so?” you asked with a quick glance.

“Oh yeah. You’d be surprised how many cool characters in movies have gnarly scars.”

You placed a bandage over one of your collarbones, and proceeded to try and get some medical tape to secure it, but due to the angle, you were struggling.

Steve watched you for a moment, before finally asking, “Do you need help?”

There was an amused look on his face, and you glared at him, but still smirked.

“Yes, please.”

He stepped over you and took the tape from your hands. With careful fingers, and very focused eyes, he helped patch you up. You watched him carefully, and found yourself staring a little too long.

He had so much hair, so naturally, there was a piece of it falling forward over his forehead. It was a small detail, but you liked it. And the way his big brown eyes were so laser focused on you - well, a part of you, was so fascinating to see. 

You’ve come to learn quite a few things about Steve Harrington, and one of them being that there was so much more to him than he, or anyone else was willing to believe.

Except maybe Dustin.

“You know,” you broke the silence, “I didn’t get a chance to thank you…for saving me back there. If it wasn’t for you I probably would’ve gotten eaten alive.”

He peered at you as he applied a last piece of tape to the second bandage.

“I was just doing what I had to do,” he shrugged. “I couldn’t just let you die.”

“I know. Which is why I’m saying thank you.”

He finished with the second bandage and regarded you with a curious expression. After a moment, he nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

“Now all I have to do is do the same to my legs, and see what I’m going to do with these torn up clothes.”

“I can see if Nancy has anything or something.”

You frowned, “Are you sure? You don’t have to do that.”

You weren’t sure how much of a sore subject Nancy was anymore, now that he knew they wouldn’t be getting back together, but you were guessing he wasn’t completely over it.

“No, it’s fine. It was bound to happen anyway.”

He smiled, and started backing out of the bathroom. “I’ll be back.”

With that, he left. You stared at the door for a moment. You weren’t sure why, but you felt something in your chest, something that made your heart constrict. Was it…jealousy? 

No, no, no. Stop it. 

They weren’t together anymore, and comparing yourself to Nancy wasn’t going to get you anywhere right now. You knew your future with Steve, and after tonight, you were starting to believe it more and more.

So, you busied yourself with patching up the claw marks on your thighs. They weren’t as deep as the ones on your collarbones, but they still stung. Luckily, you didn’t need the help of anyone.

Nancy didn’t have any spare clothes, but she was able to find something that fit you from both Jonathan and Joyce’s closets. She brought them to you with a friendly smile. It was jeans, a light blue sweater, and a black coat. When you were changed into them, you felt ready to kick some more ass. 

Ready to go, you stepped out into the hallway, and headed back to the living room. You thgouth you’d find Hopper there, still yelling through the phone, but he was gone. The kids were in the dining room, sitting around the table, while Steve was leaning against the sink.

With a furrowed brow, you walked up to them.

“Where’s Hopper?”

“He went to talk to Mrs. Byers,” Mike said somberly. In fact, they all looked defeated.

“Why the long faces? Shouldn’t we be going after this thing right now? Or at least planning?”

“Hopper says we need to sit and wait for help.”

“What?”

“Yeah the people over the phone didn’t believe him.”

You lifted your hands in question. “Who cares if they believe us? We should be doing something.”

“But Hopper’s right Nina, we can’t fight the demodogs on our own.”

“You don’t think I know that? I’m not talking about what we did back at the junkyard. We already know this thing’s weakness, right? I told you guys already.”

“We do?” Mike was perplexed.

“Well, we do,” Dustin clarified, and pointed to those of you that were at the junkyard.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Heat,” you said. “That’s why Will only ever liked it cold.”

Mikes eyes widened slowly, “It makes sense now. But wait, how do you know this?”

“Mike, this is Nine. She can see the future,” Dustin introduced you.

“Nine? Nine..like…?”

“Like Eleven,” you said.

Before he could ask you any questions, Dustin interjected, “Even if we do know that he doesn’t like heat, what are we supposed to do? This thing has an army.”

“All I know is that we get to him through Will. We expose Will to heat.”

“His army….” Mike whispered.

Steve finally spoke up. “What do you mean?”

“His army. Maybe if we stop him like you said, then we can stop his army too.”

Everyone looked confused, but you seemed to be the only one following his train of thought. Mike ran into Will’s room, and you all followed closely behind. He picked up a drawing, one with the large alien in the red clouds that you had seen countless times.

“I’ve seen this before. I never knew what it was.”

“The shadow monster,” Dustin called it.

Mike proceeded to explain to all of you, how the doctors back at the lab called the shadow monster a virus, and that it infected him the day it consumed him in the field. It’s connecting him to the tunnels, the monsters, the upside down, everything. 

It started to make sense now, why the demodogs left so suddenly that say at the junkyard. They had detected a threat to the shadow monster, so they acted like antibodies and destroyed the scientists inside.

If the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will, and so do the demogorgons.

“It’s a hive mind,” Mike said.

“Hive mind?” Steve asked in confusion, you had the same expression too.

“A collective consciousness. It’s a super-organism,” Dustin said.

“And this it the thing that controls everything,” Mike pointed to the drawing. “It’s the brain.” 

The thought of everything being connected, and that thing controlling everything made you uneasy.

“Like the mind flayer,” Dustin said. Lucas snapped his fingers and pointed at him like he just said the most brilliant thing in existence.

Not knowing what the hell they were talking about, you, Steve, and Max, at the same time, said, “The what?”

***

Everyone except for Joyce gathered in the living room, around the table which was moved from its place in the dining room. You stood in between Steve and Dustin, as the latter explained who and what the Mind Flayer was. Being that 80% of you had never played Dungeons and Dragons before, it took a lot of explaining. Especially for Hopper and Steve.

Still you listened intently, trying to grasp what he was saying, which wasn’t too hard. Basically the Mind Flayer wanted to destroy everything and anything that wasn’t itself, because it viewed you as inferior. As Lucas put it, it was the destruction of our world as we know it.

The uneasiness in your stomach got worse. This wasn’t exactly what you were expecting out of all of this either. Never in a million years.

_El, where the hell are you?_

Steve pushed himself away from the table and started freaking out. You couldn’t blame him.

“That’s great. That’s great. That’s really great. Jesus!”

Nancy leaned over the table and grabbed the book between her hands.

“Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything, then if we kill it…”

“We kill everything that it controls,” Mike finished.

“We win,” Dustin said.

“Great,” Hopper said, taking the book from Nancy’s hands, and then looked up at you, “Lucky for us, we know how to do that.”

You nodded, “We don’t have to waste time figuring things out. We know how to weaken it, and from what I know, there’s a gate that we have to close.”

“A gate?” Nancy asked.

“Yeah. It’s the opening to the upside down. It’s what’s letting everything through.”

“Okay, great. So, how do we close it?”

You sighed, and looked at Hopper, who looked about as excited as you.

“What?” Mike asked, looking between the two of you. “What is it?”

“It can’t just be anyone,” Hopper said. “There’s only one person we know that has the power to close it.”

“Who?” Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike impatiently asked at the same time.

You prepared yourself for the name you were about to say, and any reaction that might come next, because there was one person in this room who you knew wouldn’t take it very well. 

“El,” you blurted out. “We need El.”

“El?” Nancy was confused.

Mike’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened in shock. He looked at you and Hopper with questioning eyes, as if trying to find the lie, but there wasn’t any.

“El?” he whispered sharply. “El is alive?”

Hopper didn’t say anything, and left the words up to you. He was ashamed, you knew it. 

“Yeah,” you said. “She is.”

It was the third time you delivered this news, but this was the hardest one. You could see in Mike’s red rimmed eyes just how much he cared about El, how much he loved her, and how much her apparent death had affected him. 

You didn’t say anything to him, half because you hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him until now, and half because you knew he was the last person Hopper wanted to know about her. It hurt you to see his face, and to know the pain El felt over how much she missed him, but it was the one promise you managed to keep for Hopper thus far. 

The fact that she was actually alive, and you and Hopper knew about it didn’t make for the best reaction.

“You knew?” he asked, and you could see the anger bubbling inside of him. He looked around the room at everyone else. Based on a few expressions, he could read that you weren’t the only one. “Did everyone else know?”

Nancy and Jonathan shook their heads, muttering statements of confusion. However, Lucas and Dustin all muttered something along the lines of, “We just found out today. We didn’t know how to tell you.”

Then, he turned his attention to Hopper. He pointed a menacing finger at him, “You knew. You’ve been hiding her. Haven’t you?” He went up to Hopper and shoved him, “You’ve been hiding her this whole time!”

“Hey!” Hopper grabbed him, and there was some exclamations from Steve. He looked Mike in the eyes intensely. “I think you and I need to talk. Alone.”

He looked around the room, until his eyes landed on you. “We’ll be back,” he said, and pulled Mike to Will’s room.

Through the door, you could hear their muffled yelling. There was an awkward silence in the living room, the tension clearly high. But luckily Steve did you the courtesy of veering you back on track.

“So, we need El, and her powers or whatever to close the gate…but she’s not here. At least not yet, according to you,” he looked at you, a little less freaked out than he was a few minutes ago. “But what I’m wondering is…What the hell are we supposed to do until she gets here? What if those things find us here?”

“We can’t wait for military help that’s for sure,” Dustin muttered. “I doubt guns are going to do anything to that thing anyway.”

“We know those monsters are gonna molt again,” Lucas said. “Which means if they do find us, it’s going to be even harder to fight them.”

You looked intensely at the book on the table, at the D&D picture of the mind flayer. It knew where Will was. It was the reason Mike had called it the spy, because it was watching everything through his eyes. And if the mind flayer knew where he was, then so did the demodogs. 

_But what if…._

Your face lit up, and you swore a light bulb turned on above your head.

“What if they didn’t find us?” you said suddenly. Everyone looked at you, and you straightened up a little. 

“What do you mean?” Dustin asked.

“The demodogs would only know where we are, because the mind flayer knows where we are right? And the mind flayer sees through Will?”

“Yeah, and?”

You shrugged, “What if he didn’t know where he was? What if we created a space where the Mind Flayer couldn’t see through?”

It was a simple question, and maybe it would’ve sounded stupid, if a female voice didn’t agree with you from the hallway.

“Let’s do it.”

You all turned followed the source, which came from Joyce Byers. She looked angry and more determined now.

“Let’s burn that son of a bitch out of him,” she said.

The door to Will’s room opened, and out of it came Hopper and Mike, who immediately followed everyone’s gaze. Joyce walked towards Hopper and said,

“I want to kill it, Hopper. She has a plan, and I’m ready.”


	7. Bruised Knuckles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you try to get the Mind Flayer out of Will, you get in contact with El, and Billy finds his way back into your future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Cussing, fluff, angst, violence, descriptions of blood and wounds
> 
> A lot happens, but I promise it's worth it.

Nancy and Steve were outside of the Byers house with flashlights in hand, rummaging through a pile of junk for any sources of heat to use on Will. 

It was the first time since since their talk behind the school gym that they were alone together, and the first time since things officially ended between them. Now, she was with Jonathan, and Steve was busy taking care of a pack of kids, and fighting demodogs. 

Surprisingly enough, Steve didn’t feel any remorse or sadness. No grudges at all. Maybe it was your words to him, and how you knew they wouldn’t end up together in the end that brought him closure. Or maybe it was the fact that he had become this accidental babysitter and had different priorities. Or, maybe, he was starting to think that it had something to do with the fact that you walked into his life.

Whatever it was, he was different now.

“You should go with him,” he said simply, referring to what they were about to do to Will and what was inside him.

Nancy looked up at him with a confused frown. “What?”

“With Jonathan.”

“No, I’m…” she scoffed. “I’m not just gonna leave Mike out here unprotected.”

“No one’s leaving anyone,” he pointed out as he walked over to pick up a heater that was under a crate she lifted. “I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but…turns out I’m actually a pretty damn good babysitter,” he chuckled.

Nancy regarded him with sad, wide eyes as he handed her the heater. She took it, and with guilt in her voice, she said,

“Steve…”

“It’s okay Nance,” he shook his head. “It’s okay.”

“I…”

He started to walk away, to keep looking for more heaters, but then Nancy gathered her thoughts.

“You’ll find someone, Steve,” she said softly, and the boy stopped his rummaging. Nancy looked towards the shed where you and the kids were. “If you haven’t already.”

“Yeah, but…something tells me to give the ole’ heart a rest before I jump into anything new.”

“Even if that something new is something you really, really want?”

Steve furrowed his brow and stood up straight to look at her skeptically..

“Okay, what is this about?”

She sighed, “I’m just saying….you and Nina? I don’t know too much about her, but the two of you seem to have a really great connection. And you seem to really like her, and I wouldn’t want you to waste an opportunity just because I broke your heart.”

“Me and Nina?” he sputtered.

“Yes.”

“No offense, Nancy, but you’re crazy.”

“Am I though?” she quipped. “I’ve known you for a long time now, Steve. I think I know when you’re crushing on somebody.”

He looked down at the ground, his stomach fluttering at the thought of you, and then at the thought of you and him.

“Nina’s different. She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met before. She scares the shit out of me but at the same time, she’s-” he paused to take a breath, and steel himself, “….I’d be scared to mess anything up with her,” he admitted, and picked up another heater from the pile. “We both know my track record.”

“But you can change, you are changing, Steve. In a good way. I don’t know how, but I can see it.”

“Are you just saying that to be nice to me?”

“No, I mean it,” she said sincerely. 

He smiled softly, “Thanks, Nance. That means a lot.”

“You’re welcome.”

***

You were taping up some tin foil to the wall of the toolshed, when Steve and Nancy came in with a few heaters in their hands. You had noticed them talking outside, by the piles of junk. Based on the looks on their faces, neither of them looked angry or sad. Whatever conversation they had, must have been okay.

Steve put the heaters down and got to helping with the walls. He smiled at you in passing, an action you were starting to accept would always give you butterflies.

After you voiced your idea, Hopper found that the perfect place to put Will while they burned the Mind Flayer out of him, was the tool shed. 

He took everything out of there, leaving it empty and indistinguishable from any room, but of course, it wasn’t enough to keep it that way, so you all worked together to make the perfect place to confuse the Mind Flayer. You took sheets, newspaper, tin foil, and anything else you could use to stick up on the walls. 

Then, you took all the lights and heaters that you could find, and placed them in the middle, around a chair set up for Will.

Jonathan carried him in when you were all done, and tied him up with an electric cord, and it was time to get it done. After that, the majority of the group left the shed to go back into the house, and leave the work to Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike. Your job was basically to man the house, stay quiet, and make sure that nothing gave away your location to the Mind Flayer.

For a while, it was a lot of sitting around. Max and Lucas were sitting in the Hallway, Dustin and Nancy were in the kitchen, and you and Steve were in the living room. Most of you were afraid to talk too loud, so you remained quiet for the most part.

You were laying across the couch, looking up at the ceiling, while Steve stood in the middle, swinging his bat out of boredom. Every now and then, he’d look at you, but you didn’t notice, because you were busy working through an idea that hit you all of a sudden.

You knew you had time to kill, so you decided to work on something of your own, which was figuring out where El was. As far as you knew, your powers weren’t like hers, you couldn’t locate somebody just by thinking of them or holding an object of theirs. Your powers dealt with the future and looking into the upside down.

Again, as far as you knew, but you were going over a crazy idea that you just couldn’t shake since it popped into your head. You weren’t sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Even if it was to get where her next location was.

You were headed to the living room with a bandana in hand, when Lucas, Dustin, and Max started trailing behind you, asking questions.

“Wait, you can go into the void too?”  
The void being the place El went to whenever she used that half of her powers. According to her, it was just that, a dark void where the only thing she saw was what she was looking for, or what was shown to her.

“No,” you said, “But I’m gonna try.”

“If you’ve never tried it before, then how do you know it’s gonna work?” Lucas asked.

“I don’t. But I’m hoping that if I call out to her enough, she’ll hear me.”

You passed by the kitchen, where Steve and Nancy were roaming around, and they both looked confused upon your determined stride and the fact that the three kids were following you around.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked.

“She’s gonna try and find El.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Like, go out and look for her?”

“No, of course not,” you said, “I’m gonna try and use my powers.”

“Wait, you can do that?” Nancy’s eyes lit up.

“Kind of?” your uncertain voice got higher. “I can see people’s immediate future, but I’ve never actually pinpointed someone’s current location like she has.”

“And what makes you think you will now?” Nancy asked more out of curiosity than doubt.

You shrugged, “It’s just this crazy theory I have. I’m hoping that since we got our powers from the same place…we might be connected somehow. But like I said, it’s just a theory.”

“Like telepathy!” Dustin exclaimed. 

You grinned, “Yeah I guess so.”

“Tele-what?” A puzzled Steve asked.

“Telepathy,” Dustin repeated, “It’s when two people are connected and they can hear each other’s thoughts. Or sometimes, if they’re twins, they can feel when the other gets hurt.”

“And you think you and El might have it?”

“I’m hoping,” you said, before pointing to Dustin. “Can I borrow your radio?”

You could’ve used the TV, but it was too loud and you didn’t want to risk it.

Dustin took his radio out of his backpack and handed it to you with the eagerness of a child. It was endearing. 

You turned on the radio and changed to a station you knew they didn’t use. From there, you let the static fill the room. 

You walked over to the couch, sat in it’s center, and everyone followed closely behind. With the radio in your lap, and the blindfold ready in your hands, you looked at everyone, especially at Steve, with a serious expression.

“I need everyone to be quiet, or else this isn’t gonna work. At least until I see something.”

He still looked lost about what exactly it is you were doing, and was no doubt wondering why you needed the radio or the bandana in the first place. Still, he nodded, and sat on top of the coffee table next to Dustin.

You put the bandana over your eyes and tied it in the back. With that, you grabbed hold of the radio, simply to have something to hold, and took a deep breath before going into your mind.

_El, El, El_, you repeated just like you did that first day she disappeared.

You could feel the impending headache, but you ignored it, and pushed any visions aside. They were visions of her arrival, and of her closing the gate, which you had already seen. That wasn’t what you needed right now. 

_El,_ you thought hard._ El! _You called it out this time. 

“El. El, can you hear me?” you spoke aloud.

The headache threatened to get worse, but you pushed through it. You imagined the void, the dark room with the water on the floor. And you imagined El, in that dark outfit you had seen her in, with her hair slicked back. You reached out with your mind, further than you had reached out before.

_El! El! El!_

_Eleven!_

You could feel something warm running down your nose. You squeezed your eyes shut, clenched your jaw, and clutched the radio in your hands.

“She doesn’t look so good maybe she should stop.”

“Shhh.”

And then, it was like you were falling. Falling, falling, falling, until you fell forward, on your knees, into three inches of dark water. Your heart was racing, and you audibly gasped. You were disoriented, but only for a moment. When you recuperated yourself, you looked up, and smiled like an idiot.

“Guys. I’m in. I’m in the void.”

There were a few responses, but some came through as whispers. You pushed yourself to your feet, and looked around at the nothingness. It was empty.

“Do you see her?” Dustin’s voice came through. “Is she there?”

“No. Not yet.”

You started to run in a direction that called to you.

“El! El can you hear me?” You stopped after you still came across nothing, and then whirled around behind you. “El-”

You stopped mid sentence, and your eyes widened at the sight of your little sister, standing face to face with you now. She looked a mixture between bewildered and awestruck. You were so happy to see her you thought you might cry.

“Nine?” she uttered.

“Eleven,” you gasped. “You can see me? You’re really here? It worked?”

“I heard you, and when I closed my eyes we were both here. How?”

“I thought we might be connected, but I thought I was crazy…” you reached out to touch her, to see if it was possible in this place, but to your disappointment, your hand when right through her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. You?”

You inclined your head in a shrug, “I am now.”

“Hopper?”

You hummed softly, “He’s okay too. He’s worried about you, though. Waiting for you to come back. We all are.”

She hesitated for a moment, and you wondered what she was going to say. The look of longing, followed by the name she uttered, was enough.

“Mike?”

You sighed, “He’s here too. He’s safe. And he knows you’re alive.”

She smiled at that. You could swear there were tears in her eyes. You smiled back, but at the thought of the urgent message you had for her, it faded away.

Seeing the look in your eyes, she frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“El, we need you. The demogorgons, they’re back, but they’re dogs, and there’s so many of them. And the Mind Flayer, he’s possessing Will.”

“Mind Flay-er?” she struggled to pronounce the new term.

“That’s what Dustin calls it. He’s inside of Will, and using him to spy on us, and control everything, including the demogorgons. We know how to get it out of him, but it won’t kill it. The only way to do that, or to stop this, is to close the door that’s letting this all in. But we can’t close it without you, El. You’re the only one that can do it, with your powers.”

“Door?”

“Yes, a door or a gate, I don’t know. But I’ve seen it, in my dreams. It’s at the lab, El. The one we…”

An angry expression took over her features. She nodded once.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured, “I’m on my way.”

Before you could say anything else, or give her a proper goodbye, 

a tsunami of pain hit you. You bared your teeth and groaned, doubling over.

“Nine?” It wasn’t just her voice, but others too.

You were having visions. There was a blue phone on the wall, and it was ringing way too loud. Then, Will, controlled by the Mind Flayer, hearing that sound. Then, demodogs came running up and crashed against the walls of the house, trying to get in, just like at the junkyard. And you swore they were going to. You saw the underground tunnels, connected to the Mind Flayer, and suddenly, they were on fire.

You could feel hands on your shoulders, trying to pull you out of the void, and you could feel yourself being tugged back. But you willed your eyes open, willed them to look at El and say,

“Hurry! Hurry, El! We don’t have much time!”

You faded away from the void, turned to dust before your very eyes, and then you were back to reality. It was like breaking through the surface of water, and you gasped for air, and tore the bandana off of your eyes. The lighting was bright compared to the void, so you had to squint your eyes to adjust.

“Are you okay?” Nancy’s voice asked.

“You’re not gonna pass out again are you?” Steve asked right after.

When your eyes fully adjusted, you found that Nancy was to your left, with a reassuring hand on your shoulder, and Steve, was on your right. And what you thought was still the radio in your hand, was actually his own hand, which at some point, you had started to squeeze tightly. 

You loosened your grip and let go with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” you said.

“No, it’s okay,” he gave you a tight lipped smile.

Everyone was looking at you with varying expressions of fear and worry. You were panting like mad, and looked around the room until your eyes landed on the blue phone on the wall near the kitchen.

You pointed to it, and said, “Take that phone off the wall. If we don’t, then it’ll ring and we’re all screwed.”

Nancy nodded quickly in understanding, and bolted up off the couch. She marched to the phone and with all her strength, she tore it off the wall, and threw it to the ground. 

You raised your eyebrows at her, and when she looked at you, you gave her an impressed grin. You could see why Steve and Jonathan liked her so much. She didn’t hesitate or screw around.

“What about El?” Dustin spoke up now. He was standing in front of the TV. “Is she coming?”

You nodded, and smiled, feeling for the first time in two days, a ray of hope. 

“She knows. She’s coming.”

***

It wasn’t long after that, that you started to hear the screams coming from the toolshed in the back. You were all in the kitchen when you heard them, and it made your skin crawl. Whatever they were doing to the Mind Flayer, was clearly working.

_Good._ But still, it made you feel horrendous when you remembered it was inside of Will.

Soon, Nancy was gone, having left the house to go be by Jonathan’s side in the tool shed. To your surprise, it seemed to have been Steve’s idea, because when she questioned the action, he urged her to go.

Meanwhile, you went to go sit in the hallway, to get far away from the sounds. More and more time seemed to pass, or at least that’s what it felt like to you. The anticipation made you anxious and you hated it.

Then, you got a feeling. It was at the back of your brain, your intuition once again. The hairs on your arms seemed to stand on end, and you looked down at them in awe. But something told you that it wasn’t bad. Actually, the complete opposite.

You scrambled up from the floor of the hallway, and did everything to not straight up run to the doorway. You stood in front of it, your heart thumping hard against your ribs, because you knew. You knew who it was.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked.

Without answering, you put your hand on the doorknob, and wrenched the door wide open. And, just as you had predicted it, just as you had seen it so many times before, El was standing on the other side.

You gasped softly, and you could feel yourself start getting emotional. You could see it in her eyes too, that love and recognition you both had for each other.

“About damn time,” you said, and quickly took her in for an embrace. She immediately wrapped her arms around your waist, and you cradled her head against your chest lovingly. She squeezed you tight. “I was starting to get worried.”

You leaned back to look at her, and assess any possible damage, but she seemed okay physically. More okay than you were, that’s for sure. The only thing different being her hair, outfit, and the dark makeup around her eyes.

“Came here. Fast as I can,” she said.

You nodded with teary eyes, “New look?”

She smirked, pleased with herself. 

“I like it,” you mused.

“El!” Dustin and Lucas cried from somewhere behind you.

You and El let go of each other, and you let her run to her friends to greet them after being apart for so long. Both of the boys started marveling and talking rapidly about everything. Max stood off to the side, next to Steve, watching the whole encounter shyly. 

For the first time all day, there was a true sense of happiness.

However, it was cut short by another loud scream coming from the shed, followed by deafening silence.

El defensively stepped in front of her friends to protect them, unaware of what was actually going on outside. You put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and reassure her that it was all okay. At least you hoped.

You threw Steve, who was standing by the table, a worried look. He mirrored your expression and then looked towards the back door. You all did, and waited expectantly for the next thing to happen.

Suddenly, there was movement beyond the screen of the door, and then it opened with a loud clang as Hopper came barreling through. Someone else was in tow, no doubt it was Mike. The police chief began talking out of breath, addressing the entire house.

“We did it. The thing, it’s out of him…” his stopped in shock and trailed off at the unexpected sight of El amongst the four of you. “El?”

“What?” you heard Mike’s voice from behind him. 

The boy pushed past him to get a better look and see for himself. When he saw what Hopper was seeing, the entire room seemed to fade away for Mike. His face lit up like a christmas tree, and tears sprung to his eyes. Every ounce of longing that had been in him was all there for everyone to see.

He walked up to her, and El met him halfway until they reached each other and hugged each other lovingly. You felt like you were intruding on an intimate moment.

“Mike,” she whispered.

“I never gave up on you,” he said when he looked at her. “I called you every night. Every night for-”

“353 days,” she finished. At the surprised look on his face she said, “I heard.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were there? That you were okay?”

“Because I wouldn’t let her,” Hopper answered. 

El looked at him now as he strode over to her.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked.

“Where have _you_ been?” she threw back angrily, but didn’t argue as he took her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. It made you smile and want to cry all over again, but you looked up at the ceiling and made it go away.

***

Even though the Mind Flayer was out of Will, he still wasn’t safe, and neither were any of you. Now, it was a rush against time, and demodogs, to go and close the gate. 

The plan was simple: Take El back to the lab to get the job done. 

Obviously, Hopper would be the one to take her. You would’ve offered to go along, but you had an idea that you wouldn’t be able to go alone without trailing a long a group of kids that had grown particularly attached to you and Steve. At least that’s what you told yourself, but really, you were attached to them. You also wanted to give this time to Hopper and El, since they had some major catching up to do.

The other part of the plan, was for everyone else to drive up to the cabin and stay safe there until everything was done. Hopper didn’t want to risk the Mind Flayer or the demodogs finding Will at his house since he already knew of it. Which was a good idea, except that’s not what you had in mind for yourself at all.

There were visions that still hadn’t come true yet, and maybe it could’ve been that time had changed, but you didn’t want to take that risk. You had to be prepared, and do something about it should the time arise.

While Joyce, Nancy, and Will all packed their things into Jonathan’s car, you said goodbye to your little family.

You hugged El tightly to you again. Even though you knew you were going to see her when this was done, even though you knew this was going to work, it still filled you with a sense of dread and worry. They were going back to a place where numerous people had died, and to a place where the source of all this evil was. If you had any physical powers like her, you’d be right with them, but the best you could do was wield an axe and throw a mean punch.

You put your hands on her shoulders and gave her encouraging words. “You got this. I know you do.”

She grinned and nodded. She knew her power now.

“Take care of him, okay?” you glanced over at Hopper, who harrumphed when he heard you. 

“You gonna be okay?” she asked.

You glanced back at Steve and the group of kids that were all gathered on the porch. People you never imagined you’d care for so much, or would be part of your life in the first place.

You hummed and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.”

She hugged you again, but then Hopper groaned behind her.

“Alright, El. You gotta speed this up.”

You both rolled your eyes in solidarity, but then lightly pushed her to go say her goodbyes to Mike. Hopper then stepped up to you and sighed. He still wasn’t good at the touchy feely stuff, so goodbyes were probably uncomfortable for him.

“Listen I know it’s a stupid thing to ask you to stay out of trouble while we’re gone, so I’m not going to. What I am going to ask, is for you to be safe. This is the last thing we need to do, and I’d hate it if something happened to you after everything we’ve done today.”

“What trouble could I possibly get into at this point?” you asked in exasperation.

“I don’t know, kid. I never know with you,” he looked a little aggravated, but not in his usual angry way. “But I do know that if there’s anyone I shouldn’t doubt, it’s you. I know better now.”

You smirked at him, “Thanks. I’ll be fine, I promise. We all will, I know it. Just get back to me in one piece, please? The both of you.”

He pulled you in for a hug this time, but it was a little more natural now. 

“I will. We’ll be okay.”

When he pulled away, he motioned with his eyes to the kids behind you. “Take care of them.” He then looked over your head to someone in particular. “Harrington!”

“Yeah?”

You turned around to get a good look at Steve, who walked down the steps of the porch.

Hopper motioned to everyone, including you, “You take care of them. Take care of each other. You got that?”

Steve looked surprised that Hopper was even addressing him, but didn’t argue or hesitate. He nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Yeah. I will.”

Hopper turned his attention to you again, his eyes boring into you, as if willing you to understand what he meant. And it took you a moment to realize what he was giving you permission to do.

“I trust you. Be safe.”

They got into the truck, and pulled out of the driveway. Jonathan left in the opposite direction, towards the cabin. You all watched them, but your mind was elsewhere, already on the next step.

“We’re not actually going to the cabin with them. Are we?” Mike pleaded behind you. “The demodogs are still inside that lab! You saw what they did to Bob! They can’t handle them on their own.”

“Hopper’s got her man. They’ll be okay,” Lucas said.

“The chief told us to go to the cabin, and he left us to take care of you guys, so we have to go. Alright?” Steve argued.

“No, we don’t,” you said as you turned around to face them.

Steve looked at you weirdly. “What do you mean? Didn’t you hear him just now?”

“Yeah, I did. But that isn’t all he said.”

He furrowed his brow and stood straighter, “What did he say to you?”

“He said that he trusted me. And that he wasn’t going to tell me not to do anything stupid if I thought it was the right choice.”

“He told you that?”

“It’s basically what he said.”

“And what crazy plan are you thinking of right now?”

You shrugged, “I’m actually don’t have one. I just know that if they go into that lab, with those monsters, they’re not going to be able to fend them off by themselves. And I also know that Billy Hargrove is going to be paying us a visit soon, so we can’t stay here either.”

“We’re on the bench right now, there’s nothing we can do,” Steve presented.

“That’s not entirely true,” Dustin countered. You all looked at him. “I mean, these demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away.”

“So, if we get their attention…” Lucas’s face lit up as he connected the dots.

“Maybe we can draw them from the lab,” Max finished.

“Clear a path to the lab!” Mike shouted excitedly.

You started to grin widely at how clever these kids were and how quickly they were able to figure this out. It was a crazy plan, but it was genius.

Steve didn’t seem to agree. “Yeah and then we all die!” he shouted.

You rushed over to stand among them now, and put a hand on his arm. “Maybe not. I think they’re on to something.”

“Nina-”

Mike ran into the house, telling you all to follow him. When Steve hesitated, you grabbed his arm and pulled him along with you. 

Mike started pointing at the drawings of the blue vines all over the floor and walls, and naming them, saying how one of the biggest blobs in the center of the floor was like a hub, where all the vines were connected, and where Hopper had dug a hole a few days ago.

“Maybe if we set this on fire..”

Steve shot that idea down with a motion of his finger. “Oh yeah? That’s a no.”

But you were way too on board with this, as was everyone else. Tunnels on fire? That sounded familiar, you thought as you remembered the vision from earlier.

“The Mind Flayer would call away his army!” you interjected.

“They’d all come to stop us!” Lucas exclaimed.

They kept bouncing off of each other, rambling about the plan while Steve stood by and gave comments that were left unheard. When he realized they weren’t going to listen, he pulled you aside and spoke to you in the kitchen.

“Nina, this is crazy. We can’t do this. I promised to keep these shitheads safe. We should go to the cabin.”

He was like a mother hen, trying to keep his kids from doing something they shouldn’t.

“We,” you motioned between the two of you, “Promised to keep these shitheads safe, and we will. But you also have to trust them. Or at least, trust me on this. We can do this. We need to do this.” 

You enunciated every word to drive your point forward, and pleaded with your eyes for him to listen to you, to trust you. You understood his worry. You doubted that he ever expected to be in charge of a pack of kids, or knew how to do it, but he was trying his best. You also doubted he ever expected to be stuck with a girl who could see visions and had a knack for putting herself in danger.

He rested his hand on his hip, thinking as he stared into your eyes. Maybe he was hoping you’d give in and take his side, or maybe he was trying to convince himself.

“Please? Do you trust me?”

He huffed a breath, closed his eyes and said, “Yeah. Okay, okay.”

***

With a can full of gas, your axe, Steve’s bat, and the kids in the backseat, you all sped off in Steve’s BMW towards the direction of the hub that Mike had been talking about. Lucas navigated you both with the map of Hawkins he had in his hands, and Steve did his best not to get irritated, which proved hard for him.

While he was arguing with Dustin about something stupid, you got dizzy all of a sudden and your head started to hurt. 

You caught a glimpse of screams, tires screeching, and then Billy Hargrove grabbing Lucas, and then punching Steve, but it was all in a different location than before. 

Steve suddenly stopped stopped talking, having noticed the signs of you getting a vision. When Dustin and the others kept going, he yelled at them.

“Hey, shut up!”

He peered over at you, and lowered his voice. “What is it? Did you see something?”

“It’s Billy. He’s-”  
“Behind us!” Lucas shouted.

The other kids cried in fear. You twisted around to look through the back window, while Steve looked through the rearview mirror. To your luck, Billy Hargrove’s blue car was trailing dangerously close behind you.

“Shit,” Steve cursed.

“There’s no way that’s a coincidence,” you shook your head. “He must’ve spotted us somehow.”

“We have to lose him,” Max urged. “He’ll kill us.”

You sat back down in your seat and glanced at Steve. With his eyes forward, and a bite of his lip, he said,

“Hold on.”

He stepped on the gas petal, sending the car faster down the road. Except Billy did the same thing, and hit the gas so he caught up to you guys. You watched him through the mirror as he got closer and closer, and you started to get anxious.

“Steve,” you muttered.

“I’m trying. This is as fast as it goes, Nina.”

Billy hit the bumper of the car, sending your bodies forward and making you all gasp. He clearly didn’t care, and was doing it on purpose.

“Then, make a turn, Steve!”

He did just that, and sent you all flying to the side as he made a sudden hard right onto a random street. The kids screamed, and complained when they were squished against one another. 

You glanced back through the window, but felt your heart drop when Billy was still following you.

“He’s still there.”

Steve made a left turn, but it was no use. Billy was too close behind and there were no buildings or houses in this area to hide you from sight. It was just the trees and the flat farms of Hawkins.

Billy veered into the opposite lane, and pulled up so that he was parallel with Steve’s car. When you both dared to look, the bastard was smiling at the two of you like a maniac. And you could hear his music blaring through your own windows.

“Harrington!” he shouted. “Pull over!”

“He’s crazy!” Dustin said.

Steve shook his head and shrugged apologetically at Billy. 

“Nope, sorry. Can’t do that.” Then he whispered under his breath, “You piece of shit.”

You could hear Billy laugh. “You’ve got my sister in there, Harrington. I’m not stopping until I get her back.”

He glanced at Max through the rearview, who was shaking her head, pleading for him to not pull over. Though you doubted he’d ever do that.

He sighed, “Hold on to your asses.”

“What-?” you barely got out, before he hit the brakes, and you had to put your hands against the dashboard to stop from crashing into it.

He put the car in reverse, and put his arm around the seat to look through the back and started driving backwards back in the direction you came.

You had no words. All you could do was watch him with a slack jaw and eyes like a bug. Even the kids were the same way. You only stopped to look back through the windshield to see if you had lost Billy. He had barely pumped the brakes on his own car, which gave you an ounce of hope that you might lose him.

“Hold onto to something!” Steve warned you all.

You all braced yourselves this time before he made a complete 180 degree turn, put the car into drive, and started driving the right way again.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” you heard someone say.

“You puke in my car, you’re dead,” Steve warned.

You looked at him, still in awe. “What the hell was that? Where did you learn to do that?”

He shrugged, “I saw it in an action movie once.”

You scoffed.

“Is he still following us?”

You looked through the rearview mirror, expecting the blue car to still be there, but there was nothing but empty road behind you.

“No,” you sighed in relief, “He’s gone. I think we-”

“Steve! Nine! To your right, to your right!”

With a jump, you both looked through the passenger side window, and your hearts sank. Because you hadn’t lost Billy Hargrove, no, he had just decided to take a different road to get to you. He was driving through the grass, side by side with you guys still, and going faster.

You could see that he was angry now. There was no laughter or crazy smiles.

With the twist of the steering wheel, he rammed into the side of Steve’s car. It jolted you, and the kids on that side. The tires of Steve’s car screeched as he pulled the car further to the left. 

“He’s gonna kill us!” Lucas screamed.

Billy turned his wheel again, but this time, it wasn’t to hit the side of the car, but to completely turn left so his car was sideways, right in front of you. Steve slammed on the breaks yet again to evade completely t-boning Billy’s car and possibly hurting you all.

When you were completely stopped, your chests rose and fell with heavy breaths, and you were barely starting to notice that you had started to shake. There was nothing but silence, nothing but fear as Billy Hargrove’s door swung open.

Steve put his car in park, and said, “Stay here.”

You all looked at him like he was completely insane. Numerous remarks and exclamations filled the car.

“Steve, no!”

“Are you crazy?”

“He’s gonna murder you!”

He ignored everything they said, and reached for the door. Before he could step outside, you grabbed his hand, and practically begged him to stay.

“Steve…”

He squeezed your fingers, but said nothing. You could tell in his eyes that his mind was already made up. He left the car, and slammed the door shut.

_You brave idiot. This is why this plays out the way it does._

They were the same height, but Billy seemed to tower over Steve with his presence, and the way he wore his ego like an outfit. As if you couldn’t already tell by the way he chased you all down, his eyes said he was out for blood. And you knew it was true.

Their voices were muffled by the windows, so you couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, but you had an idea it had something to do with Max or Lucas.

“Nine, you have to do something,” Dustin pleaded.

You nodded, already knowing what you had in mind. That asshole needed to get what he deserved.

“Dustin, hand me the bat.”

You could hear scrambling behind you. Meanwhile, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of Billy and Steve, you didn’t want to. Just as Dustin handed you the bat, the blonde boy outside laughed, and then punched Steve in the face, before kneeing him in the stomach.

You sucked in a breath.

With a scowl, you opened the passenger door and pushed yourself out of the car, the bat gripped in your hand. Billy was about to kick Steve in the stomach again, but you rushed to stop it.

You slammed the door and shouted, “Hey!”

He stopped mid-motion, and looked directly at you. A devilish smile curled his lips at the sight of you. It made you want to gag.

“Leave him alone!” you raised the bat threateningly, and stepped around the front of Steve’s car.

He laughed at you. “Woah there. What are you gonna do with that? Hit me with it?”

“I just might,” you growled.

“Oh, really, now?” He started sauntering over to you like some kind of predator. He clearly underestimated you.

You stood your ground, and clenched your jaw. Before he could get too close, you eyed his car and with no remorse, you swung the bat with a grunt, and shattered the driver’s side window of his car. You turned away as glass flew, and you could hear shouting from inside the BMW.

“You crazy bitch!” Billy screamed, and then lunged at you.

Bad move, because you were full of adrenaline, and didn’t plan on hesitating to injure this guy. You swung the bat again, but this time at him, and he managed to lean back and dodge it.

“Leave us alone!” you swung again, always keeping a distance from him, and managed to scratch his arm. He stopped and looked down at it with wide eyes. He looked at you like you were crazy, but you could’ve sworn he wanted to laugh.

“You stupid-”

Steve got up from the ground with a roar, and tackled Billy from behind. The bat went slack in your hands as you watched them both fall down into a tangle of limbs and punches. Steve managed to get some good ones in, but Billy had more strength and experience, so he was able to roll over and get on top of the brunette.

At the sight of your vision starting to come true, it flipped a switch in you.

“Steve!” you cried, and dropped the bat on the road to run over and help.

You barreled towards them, and used all of your strength to punch Billy on the side of his face. He doubled over, and you punched him again until he fell to the ground next to Steve. 

You could tell that wouldn’t be enough, that he was just going to keep getting up and attacking you, over and over. You knew he wouldn’t stop until he had Max, or until he hurt Lucas or Steve or you. You had seen it before, countless times, how he never seemed to stop.

So, with animalistic fury, you lunged at him, and started going at him with your fists until you felt like he wouldn’t fight back anymore. Until his face was bloody and bruised. 

You were screaming, when suddenly arms wrapped around your stomach and pulled you backwards, away from Billy.

“Nina, Nina, Nina. Stop, I think you did it.”

You fought against Steve instinctively, but his voice only got softer despite his grip on you.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. Stop.”

You fell back against him with a grunt, struggling to catch your breath. You could feel your knuckles starting to hurt now, but you ignored it as you both kept your eyes on Billy’s body. For a moment, you were sure you had killed him, but upon further inspection, you noticed his chest rising and falling still, and you both relaxed.

One of the doors to Steve’s car creaked open.

“Guys, we have to go!” Mike shouted, and reminded you of what it was that you had been out here for.

Steve tapped you on the arm twice and said, “Let’s go.”

“Yeah,” you nodded dazedly, and let him help you up from the ground.

You looked up at Steve, and quickly assessed the damage of his face. There was a bruise forming around his left eye, and he had a busted lip, but it was nothing compared to what it could’ve been. You knew that for a fact.

Meanwhile, your knuckles were bruised and bloody.

You went to get into the car, but stopped at the door when you noticed that Steve had hung back. You realized it was to pick up the bat you had dropped on the ground. But still, he stayed over there, and looked at Billy’s car for a moment. You frowned in confusion.

The kids started muttering a bunch of questions, and telling him to hurry up. Before you could ask him what he was doing, he lifted the bat, and swung it at one of Billy’s front tires. The inflated rubber let out a hissing sound as the air left it, and the car fell unevenly to that side.

Pleased with himself, Steve twirled the bat in his hand and meandered over to the driver’s side of the car.

“That should keep him from terrorizing anybody for a while,” he muttered to you, and slipped into the car smoothly.

You grinned to yourself, feeling oddly attracted to him even more than you already were. 

When you got into the car, the kids immediately burst into a plethora of a million comments that made you smile. As well as many apologetic statements from Max.

“That was awesome!”

“I can’t believe you smashed his window!”

“And the way you guys punched him? Wow.”

“You guys make a great team.”

You both looked at each other sidelong, and smiled shyly.

_Yeah, maybe we do make a great team._

On the drive to the pumpkin patch, you looked down at the console, where your bruised hand was and where his own bruised one was sitting lightly on the gear shift. He glanced down there too, and he flexed his hand oddly. 

So close, yet so far.

If you touched his hand right now, would you see the same visions? Would you see him kiss you again? Anything new? You were so curious now. Part of you wanted to know so badly, but the other part wanted to keep things as much of a surprise as you could.

Feeling your heart skip, you pulled your hand to yourself and crossed your arms to try and stop your imagination from running wild.

But it was too late.


	8. Famous Last Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you, Steve, and the kids create a distraction so El can close the gate, and when it's all over, there's some feelings to address.

As soon as Steve pulled up to the farm, you all shot out of the car and started moving as quickly as possible to equip your gear and head into the tunnels. There were bandanas and scarves, as well as gloves and goggles for protection from whatever was down there. Everyone grabbed a flashlight, Mike and Max grabbed the gas cans, and some rope. Lucas strapped on some crazy contraption to his back, which apparently also had gasoline, but neither you nor Steve bothered to question where the hell he got it from. **  
**

Before you knew it, you had your axe in your backpack, and Steve had his bat in his. Mike, Max, and Lucas were already heading over to the hole in the ground, while the rest of you hung back to get situated.

You eyed Steve and his beat up face, and you felt compelled to take the opportunity to have a quick check in with him. With your bandana around your neck, and goggles resting atop of your head, you leaned in closer to him.

“Hey. You good?”

He looked a little surprised at the gentle tone, but it seemed to take away any irritation in his eyes, even for a moment.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good.” He said while pulling on some yellow gloves like the ones you used earlier. “My head is pounding, but I’m great.”

He flashed his eyes at you when he said the last word sarcastically.

“Well, when this whole thing is over we’ll finally have a chance to fucking breathe.”

“I sure hope so.”

He got everything on, but didn’t move from his spot, and instead locked eyes with you.

“Thanks for helping back there. I know I thought I had it handled but now I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten my ass handed to me if you hadn’t come out.” He pointed to his black eye, “This, would’ve been a lot worse.”

“Oh trust me, it would’ve,” you said, remembering your first vision where Steve’s face was red and bloody all over. You shook the memory away. “And you’re welcome. I couldn’t just leave you out there to fend for yourself against a psycho.” 

“You couldn’t?” 

“Of course not. We’re supposed to take care of each other, and that includes each other, not just the kids.”

He smiled, “Right.”

“Come on guys!” Dustin said as he shut the trunk of the car.

You both turned and sighed.

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” Steve uttered. “I swear if something happens to any of them and Hopper tries to kill me, I’m blaming you.”

He motioned to you with his head. You glared at him.

“What a gentlemen,” you drawled sarcastically and started walking forward through the dirt. 

You dropped down into the tunnels with Steve in tow. It was dark and the walls were damp with some unknown substance. You didn’t expect it to be so jarring to be down there, but you found yourself pausing for a second to take it all in.

You stared in shock through the goggles over your face.

It was the upside down, or at least it had similar characteristics to it. Not only was it dark, but there were vines all over the floor just like the ones you had seen before, and the air was filled with hundreds of tiny white flecks that resembled ashes.

You were half expecting the Mind Flayer to be somewhere, but there was no sign of anything like it. The fact that it was such a tiny space didn’t make things any better.

“Woah,” you whispered, a little unsettled. “I already hate it.”

“Yeah, holy shit…” Steve agreed next to you.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s this way!” Mike said from a few feet ahead.

“You’re pretty sure, or you’re certain?” Dustin asked.

Irritated and mildly offended by his friend’s doubts, he whirled around and said, “I’m 100% sure. Just follow me and you’ll know.”

_Grumpy little shit._

He proceeded forward at the head of the pack, but both you and Steve immediately saw it as a bad idea. They couldn’t be sure what was in there, or if the demodogs were going to suddenly appear out of nowhere. And if you were going to protect them, you certainly couldn’t let one of them lead the way.

“Mike, hey!” you shouted.

Steve was already jumping over vines to stop him. You quickly maneuvered your way over as well.

“Woah, woah, woah. Hey, hey, hey. I don’t think so,” he said, pointing his flashlight at Mike. “Any of you little shits die down here, I’m getting the blame-”

“And me,” you added with arms crossed. “It’s our job to protect you from getting eaten alive or whatever.”

“Yeah, got it, dipshit?” Steve took the map from him. “From now on, I’m leading the way. Come on, let’s go.”

Eager to get this done and over with, he moved at a rapid pace, and you were all forced to keep up. If anyone lagged behind, he’d make a remark about putting hustle in it. You had no trouble, and followed closely behind him.

The only time you stopped was when Dustin separated from the group and started screaming bloody murder. You all snapped into action, and ran to aid him. You even took out your axe in case something needed to be chopped in half. When you found him, he was on his hands and knees, coughing on the ground. There were no demodogs or any other visible threats in sight.

“Something got in my mouth!” he screamed and kept coughing while you all surrounded him and pointed your flashlights in his face.

When he was done, he looked up at all of you and simply said, “I’m okay.”

You all wanted to kill him for that scare.

After what felt like a forever of weaving through the musty tunnel, you finally reached the Hub that Mike had talked about. 

It was a place where the tunnel opened up into a bigger space, as big as a living room, and various other tunnels leading to other places in Hawkins were connected to it. In it’s center was a hunk of vines interlocking with each other.

You drenched the entire place with gasoline using the cans and Lucas’s tank. Every single inch was covered in it by the end, because none of you wanted to take any risks of it not working. Even though it was a distraction for El and Hopper, you also wanted to hurt this thing.

When you were done, you all huddled up at the entrance of the tunnel you came from, as Steve took out the lighter he was supposed to use back at the junkyard. That plan hadn’t gone the way you had all wanted, but this one would. With a flick of his fingers, he flipped it open, lit the flame, and threw the lighter in the middle of the Hub.

The entire place lit up in flames, and heat radiated from them. You all leaned back, away from it. The most shocking part wasn’t the fact that it was burning, but the fact that the vines on the floor were suddenly dancing around as if in pain.

You cringed in disgust and horror. 

The flames grew stronger, and suddenly, the tunnels started to shake. It was your cue to run and get the hell out of there. The Mind Flayer was angry and no doubt he was already sending his demodogs after you all.

“Go, go, go!” Steve yelled, pushing you all back through the dark passageway.

You and the kids didn’t hesitate at all, and ran as fast as your legs could carry you, and as quickly as the vines on the ground allowed you. Steve made his way to the front of the pack, using the map to guide you all back, and you brought up the rear. Dustin was freaking out and muttering things as he went.

Now that the Mind Flayer was aware of your presence here, the vines seemed to come alive all over now, and slithered like snakes. One of them even grabbed Mike’s ankle. He fell to the ground in front of you, lucky for him, but he started screaming and freaking out as the vine tried to drag him down to an unknown place.

The kids stopped and tried to pulled him in the opposite direction. You told them all to stay back as you took out your axe, and then hacked away at the thick tentacle. It made terrifying, chittering noises, just like the demodogs, even after you cut it completely in half. When Mike was free, you helped him up and kept going. 

Or at least, you tried. Until you heard the familiar growl of a demodog from behind you.

With your weapon raised, you all whirled around towards the source of the sound. It was just one, a singular creature with yellow stripes running down it’s back.

Dart, you realized. Dustin’s former pet and friend, but also the one monster that was smarter than the rest, and harder to beat. You didn’t care if it was alone, you readied yourself to kill this thing, and so did Steve.

But then the crazy kid started walking up towards it. 

“Dustin!” you exclaimed.

“Henderson, are you crazy?”

“Dustin, get back!”

“Trust me,” he said to any and all remarks of protest, and started talking to the thing like it was just some ordinary dog.

What was even crazier, was the fact that Dart seemed to recognize him, and understand him. The creature made no moves to attack Dustin, or even called to the other demodogs for back up. He just stood there as Dustin asked him to spare him and his friends, and then gave him a 3 Musketeer bar.

You were completely dumbfounded, at a loss for words. That thing tried to kill you earlier that night.

“Is this actually happening?” you whispered, afraid of provoking it.

“I guess it is,” Steve answered in equal bewilderment.

Dart took the nougat bar, and with that, you were all able to get past him without getting attacked. Even when you kept looking back with your axe at the ready, he made no moves to follow. 

However, the others of his kind were not like him, and were out for blood.The sounds of their feet rumbled the tunnel even more as they made their way towards you all. It set everyone’s anxiety on edge, as it would. 

You were able to breathe a sigh of relief when you got to the entrance that led back to the pumpkin patch, but it was only replaced with hectic panic as you and Steve scrambled to get all of the kids up and out of the tunnel with the looming sound of rabid alien dogs.

It was supposed to be your turn to go back up, when you both heard the demodogs coming around the corner. They shadows grew larger against the light of the flames from beyond. 

Steve picked up his bat and stood in front of you protectively, but you ended up taking a spot next to him with your own weapon raised. You were in this together. But if you were honest, you were scared shitless. You didn’t know how many of them there were, or if more had spawned since the junkyard, so for all you knew, you were both fucked.

“Nine! Steve! Come on!” Mike screamed at the top of his lungs for you both, his gloved hand outstretched.

But it was too late. The demodogs rounded the corner, and not even one of you would be able to make it up there in time. You gasped loudly at the sight of them, and felt sick to your stomach as they barreled towards you. 

You weren’t going to survive this, there was no way. You could barely handle four, let alone this many.

As one of them was inches away from you, you closed your eyes and braced yourself to be knocked down and torn to shreds. The kids above you screamed, but then they stopped abruptly. And you weren’t knocked down, you weren’t torn to shreds.

_What the hell?_

You peeled your eyes open and dared to look.

“Oh my god.”

They weren’t even paying attention to you, they didn’t spare a second glance. Instead, they were rushing right past you, stampeding towards somewhere completely different now. 

Both you and Steve had your arms raised and did your best to stay out of their way. One of them was about to run into you, but Steve used his free arm to wrap it around you and pull you close to him. Thankful for the protection, you didn’t hesitate to wrap your arm around him too. You pushed yourself as close to him as possible to keep from touching any of them.

Both of your hearts were beating so fast, almost as loud as their pounding feet.

You stayed that way until the last one passed by. And even then, you were too busy wondering where the hell they were going to think about letting go.

But then the realization hit you. It hit Mike too.

“Eleven,” you whispered sharply.

“We have to get out of here before they decide to come back,” Steve said urgently and let go of you to boost you up through the opening. 

There was still a sense of panic as he hoisted you up below your hips and lifted you until you grabbed hold of the rope and started pulling yourself up with all of your strength. Mike and Dustin grabbed a hold of your arms and before you knew it, you were above ground.

Then you reached down to help Steve. He held onto your hand and used the edges as well as the rope for help. With the help of the kids, you were able to get him out. 

With the force of your strength, the two of you stumbled backwards, on top of one another. You rolled away, and sat back on your heels, and then tore off the goggles and bandanas from your faces to get a gulp of fresh air.

For what felt like the millionth time that day, the two of you had almost died. Twice now that you were absolutely sure was going to be your time, and both involved those monsters. You could be brave, but you had officially reached your limit on life threatening situations for now.

You and Steve both looked at each other. You could see that he was thinking about the same thing, about the fact that you both almost died down there. And there was that same feeling you had back when he had patched you up. The tension was high. It was like a current of electricity that only the two of you could feel.

Your eyes flew to his lips, at his eyes, and then back again. It was agony, you wanted this agony to end. You wanted him. Now. Before something else happened and one of you died for real.

All of this went through your mind in a matter of seconds, until finally, the two of you launched yourselves at each other. His hands were on either side of your face and he pulled you towards him until he was kissing you hard. You grabbed a hold of his jacket to keep him close and kissed him back with equal fervor.

Clearly the two of you had been holding back a lot.

The kids immediately protested.

“Guys, are you serious? Right now?”

“Honestly, I was wondering when they were gonna finally do it.”

“Still, gross.”

“We’re still here, you know!”

“Hey, guys!” Dustin yelled. “The headlights are being weird.”

You detached yourselves from one another then, and opened your eyes to find that the farm was much brighter than it was before. Confused, you stood up slowly together, with your eyes like slits against the headlights of Steve’s car.

They were abnormally bright, but only for a few seconds before they started to dim slowly and then turned off completely. 

At that moment, you felt like a lead weight was lifted from your brain. It was a feeling you started having a little over month ago, when you first got the visions about the Mind Flayer and everything else. It was that same weight that had given you headaches, dizziness, and visions so strong you would pass out and your nose would bleed.

Now, it was gone. You could feel it in your body. The gate was closed, you did it. El did it.

“It’s done,” you said. “It’s over.”

“Did you see something?” Mike asked.

You looked at the eager, wide eyed boy, and shook your head.

“No, but I can feel it. The Mind Flayer’s gone.”

***

Back at the cabin, you all waited anxiously for Hopper and El to come back. You were out on the porch with Mike, Steve, and the other kids. Joyce was taking care of Will inside still, as was Jonathan (with Nancy by his side).

When you saw the headlights coming through the woods, and the sheriff’s truck pulled into the driveway, you all stood up straighter. The front doors opened, and out came Hopper and El. You could hardly contain yourself now, and ran towards them when they arrived, embracing them both so tightly.

“You did it,” you told El. “I’m so proud of you.”

She smiled at you, and then rushed past you to greet Mike and her friends. They went inside, while you and Hopper stayed on the steps to talk for a bit.

Steve was about to follow closely behind, but then Hopper called out to him again.

“Hey, Harrington!”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for keeping an eye on them. You did good, kid.”

Steve gave the chief a tight lipped smile, and chanced a glance at you. “Thanks, but I couldn’t have done it without her.”

You bit your lip to hide a smile.

“I’ll see you inside?” you asked.

He nodded, and you could tell he wanted to smile too, but kept the straightest face in front of Hopper. With that, he went inside with the rest of them, and finally, you and Hopper were alone.

When you twisted back to face him, he had a skeptical look on his face, the kind only a father could have. It was like he knew that something was going on, or that something happened, and you didn’t like it one bit.

“What?” you played dumb.

“What do you mean, ‘what?’?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He damn near burned holes into the door with the glare he was giving it. You were completely unbothered, but also willing to argue with him if that was what he wanted to talk about.

“Nothing,” he rumbled, and cleared his throat. “I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“When we were at the lab, those things were still there. I thought I was going to have to fight some of them off, I was ready, but then they started acting weird, and then they just…left,” he explained and then raised an eyebrow at you, “That doesn’t have anything to do with you and your little party does it?”

You shrugged innocently, but didn’t lie, “Maybe.”

He narrowed his eyes, “Thought so.”

“If it’s any consolation, it was actually Mike’s idea. He knew there would be too many of them, so he suggested that we create a distraction to lure them away for a while. Soooo….we set the tunnels of fire.”

“You what?” he raised his voice suddenly.

“I know, it’s crazy,” you tried calming him down. “Steve was against it, but I convinced him to go. It was a pretty good plan. And it ended up working, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did, but….,” he trailed off. He tried to stay cool, but the strained tone of his voice told you he wanted to explode. 

“Listen, if I hadn’t gone with them, I’m pretty sure they would’ve found a way to hijack Steve’s car and drive off in it.”

“That’s true. Those kids are something else.”

“The term is, ‘A pain in the ass’.”

“A royal pain in the ass.”

You both laughed at that.

“Is that how the Harrington kid got that shiner on his face?”

“His name is Steve,” you sighed. “And no, that was something else.”

“Did you do that to him?”

“No! Although I would’ve if he pissed me off enough, but he didn’t.” You said. “We ran into someone that wanted to hurt us, and we had to get away.”

He put his hand on his hip and got all protective all of a sudden. “Who? Who was it?”

“Hop, it’s fine. It’s over with.”

“No, it’s not. Who was it?”

You sighed, “Billy Hargrove.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line, and nodded angrily. “I knew that kid was trouble.”

“Yeah, he is, but I took care of him, so that should keep him from messing with us from now on.”

He raised his eyebrows at you in surprise, “You did?”

You lifted your hands to show him the cuts and bruises on the knuckles.

“I did,” you smirked, very pleased with yourself.

He smiled so widely at the sight of your hands, you never thought someone could get so excited over cuts and bruises. He put a hand on your shoulder and patted you affectionately.

“That’s my girl.”

You chuckled, “Thanks, Chief.”

He looked back up towards the door, and for a moment you thought it was time to go back inside, but then he got oddly serious again. Not in a way that meant he was going to scold you, but there was definitely something else he wanted to desperately mention.

“So….Steve.” It was like it hurt him to say his first name.

You sighed in exasperation. You knew he was probably going to get all dad on you and tell you that he didn’t approve and blah, blah, blah. 

“Hopper-” you started to say.

“Hey, I’m old, but I’m not stupid, Nine. I can see the way you look at him, and the way he looks at you. You clearly have a thing for each other, and before you go denying it, let me just say that…and even though it pains me to say this….I’m okay with it. I’m not gonna stop you.”

You had an argument at the ready, but were taken aback and stopped short.

“You’re not?”

“No,” he sighed, “You deserve to be happy, Nine. You’ve had your fair share of shit luck and shit people in your life. Not to mention I’ve kept you locked up in here for far too long. He’s a good kid. Used to be a little bit of a douche, but he’s proved himself today.”

You were completely shocked to say the least, and didn’t expect to hear any of this from Hopper. At least not right now or like this. You didn’t need his permission to be with anybody, but it felt nice to know that he would be okay with it. It took a weight off of your shoulders that you didn’t know you had been carrying.

“Besides,” he added, “I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen some kind of a future with him already, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I have,” you admitted.

“A good one at least?”

You looked up thoughtfully and recalled avery vision you had about Steve, particularly the ones that didn’t involve danger. You focused on the best ones. The kiss in particular.

“Yeah. So far, it’s been good.”

“Then what are you waiting for? You clearly don’t need my say in this anyway,” he shrugged.

The two of you went back into the cabin with everyone else. It was drastically warm compared to outside, maybe due to the amount of people or the heaters, or both. You weren’t used to so many people cramped into this space that was often so empty, but it was oddly comforting. Especially since every face was a face you were happy to see.

Among them, you found Steve, who was sitting at the breakfast table against the wall with Dustin. You caught his eye and his face lit up at the sight of you. 

What a wild thought, someone being that happy to see you walk into a room.

You glanced over at the kitchen, and you got an idea. An excuse, if you will, to talk to him. You walked over to the table, interrupting whatever rant Dustin was going on, which I’m sure the other boy didn’t mind at all.

“Come on,” you reached out your hand, “Let’s get you something for that bruise, Mother Goose.”

He snorted at the nickname, but gladly took your hand and your offer.

“Okay.”

You went into the kitchen, and started looking through the freezer for something to use in place of an icepack - which you didn’t have. 90% of what was in there were boxes of Eggos, which weren’t going to work (unless you were desperate). Luckily there was an unopened bag of frozen peas and carrots from when Hopper swore he’d cook but never actually did.

You grabbed it, and handed it to him. He placed it over the left side of his face, and winced at the pain and sudden cold. Then, the two of you decided to go outside to the porch. It was mainly your idea since you were planning on talking to him, and wanted to be away from any prying eyes or ears. 

You both leaned against the porch, facing each other, and he pointed to your hands, “You should probably ice those knuckles too.”

“There’s nothing but waffles in there, I’ll ice them later.”

“Why do you have so many waffles?” he said amidst a laugh.

“Because they’re El’s favorite food and it’s basically the only thing she’ll ever eat, but we’re trying to change that.”

He nodded in understanding and looked down at his feet for a second.

“So,” he said suddenly, “That kiss.”

The mention of it made you chuckle nervously, even though you basically intended on talking about it anyway.

“Yeah, that was….”

“Great,” he blurted out.

And you agreed 100%. “Yeah, yeah, it was.”

Your lips tingled at the thought of it, once again.

“So….was that a one time thing, or….”

“It doesn’t have to be if you don’t want it to,” you said daringly.

“Good, good, good,” he said nervously, and his hair bounced as he nodded. He locked eyes with you and said, “Yeah…because I don’t…I don’t think I want it to be.”

“Really?” you asked breathlessly.

It shouldn’t have surprised you at this point that this was how it was going to go, but hearing the words fall from his lips made you feel so unbelievably wonderful. 

“Yeah, yeah, I like you..a lot, Nina. I’ve never met anyone like you, ever. You’re the craziest, bravest, most interesting person I’ve ever met and I want to get to know you even more.” 

Your cheeks were hurting from how much you were smiling and you fought the urge to look away and hide.

“No one’s ever said anything like that to me before.”

He furrowed his brow, and looked a little self conscious. “I’m not getting too cheesy too quickly, am I?”

“No, no,” you laid your hand on his arm, “No one’e ever been cheesy for me before. I like it. I like you. So much that it scares me, actually.”

He took the frozen bag away from his face, and leaned in closer to you.

“Really?”

“Really,” you nodded.

He took your left hand in his and said, “Nina…will you go out with me?”

The simple gesture of him holding your hand was enough to make you see visions. But for once, they were good visions. New visions of you and Steve together, both happy, some sad, but the majority of them were happy.

When it passed, it wasn’t as painful or as dizzying as before. Still, you had to close your eyes for a second to recuperate. 

Steve put the bag of vegetables on the porch and worriedly put a hand to your cheek. When you opened your eyes, his own were scanning your face back and forth.

“Are you okay? It’s not bad is it?”

He was so close now, that your breath was mixing together in the cool autumn air. And his eyes, those big brown eyes never tore away from yours. It was like he saw all of you and he liked what he saw.

_What the fuck are you waiting for, Nine?_

A big grin split across your face. “No. No, everything’s perfect.”

You pushed yourself towards him and crashed your lips against his for the second time tonight. It lasted about a second, until he winced and hissed in pain. You pulled back and barred your teeth apologetically when you saw him tonguing the cut on his lip.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

He waved away your apologies, and was already making his way to kiss you again. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s worth it.”

You snorted. A few punches from Billy Hargrove wasn’t going to keep him from kissing you. And you were thankful for it. 

You snaked your arms around his neck and tangled your fingers in his long hair. The kiss was less urgent than the last, but just as heavenly. His lips moved against yours softly and perfectly, it made your knees turn to jelly. You almost didn’t want to stop, you wanted to melt into him.

But then in between, Steve disconnected to say, “So, is that a yes?”

You looked at him in disbelief, only to laugh, “Yes.”

“Great.”

He kissed you again, his hands went to your waist and the bag of frozen peas and carrots ended up falling to the floor.

Behind you, the door to the cabin opened, and a deep voice made the two of you jump apart.

“Hey!”

It was Hopper.

“Just because I said it was okay, doesn’t mean that I want the two of you making out on my front porch.”

Your cheeks got hot in embarrassment.

“Yeah, right, sorry.” Steve stuttered as he backed away from you.

“Hopper,” You protested.

“This is still my roof.”

“Hopper!”

“My rules.”

“_Hopper_!”

“Now come back inside, it’s getting late.”

He pushed away from the door, but left it open, and you swore you saw him smirk. You rolled your eyes and groaned in frustration. When you looked back at Steve, he was back to his original spot, which was not too close to you.

“Sorry about him.”

“It’s okay.”

“Still want to go out with me even if I have an overprotective police chief as a dad?”

“I think I knew what I was signing up for when I asked you that. So, yeah. Definitely.”

“Famous last words,” you sang.

“Lucky for you, I have a car, and a house, and parents that are never home.”

You smiled at Steve and both started walking towards the door.

“I’ll hold you to that.”


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which almost 2 months pass after the gate closing.

You sat at the edge of the hood of Steve’s maroon BMW, which was parked in front of Hawkins High School. It was a blue-skied afternoon, chilly as per the new season, and school was just about over for the day. You were waiting patiently with a manila folder clutched in your hands with papers peeking out from the sides. The breeze picked up, and you hugged your windbreaker closer to yourself.**  
**

You were excited and anxious for numerous reasons, and there was one person - one of the causes for your excitement - that you wanted to talk to about it. 

It had been nearly two months since everything happened with the Mind Flayer and the demodogs. Despite the grief over Bob’s death, and even Barb’s (a girl who went missing last year), everyone was on an uphill recovery from everything. Will was finally back to normal, at least as normal as he can be with what he lived through, and Joyce was embracing the freedom of having her son back for good. Nancy and Jonathan were together now, and the former seemed better now after the funeral for her best friend that you never got to meet. Billy never went near you, or the kids again. The party was back together, with Max as their new member, and Mike and El were fully embracing being together again. You and your sister were finally free to go out with abandon (for the most part), and did it as frequently as possible, especially with your new boyfriend. 

Your demodog scratches were fully healed now, and were merely scars against your skin, which you were starting to get used to. Luckily it was Winter now so you didn’t have to worry about showing them off or explaining them just yet.

You were also finally gaining control of your psychic abilities. For the longest time you weren’t sure if it was possible with an ability like yours since it wasn’t physical like El’s, but the closing of the gate seemed to make it so. Since your abilities were honed in a lab that sat atop of the upside down’s entrance, you never knew anything else. The splitting headaches and intense visions became your normal, but now it was different.

Although you still had dreams, your abilities were, for the most part, reduced to touch. If you wanted to see someone’s future, you had to touch their hand or some part of their skin, just like with Will, Lucas, and Steve. To see even deeper or further, or even get more specific, you would use the white noise, but you rarely ever had an occasion to do that anymore. The visions were still vivid, but they didn’t hit you as badly or as suddenly at unwanted times like before. 

It took a weight off of your shoulders, and allowed you to relax, even if it was a little bit so you could have a semi-normal life after everything. After all, it wasn’t like you spent your life touching people anyway. You limited that to family, and Steve.

Steve was proving to be, more and more, your favorite human being on the planet. The two of you had only been dating for a month and a half, but - as cheesy as it sounds - it felt like you knew each other for years. Maybe you had an unfair advantage considering you dreamt about him before you even met, but it was nothing like actually being with him.

When he wasn’t being a protective Mother Goose, or when Hopper wasn’t around, he was actually very spontaneous, very funny, and very handsy. 

Of course, he was still taking things slow since he was fresh out of a big breakup and didn’t want to mess things up with you, which you understood. It was your first real relationship after all, and you were still trying to figure things out. Lucky for you, he was very sweet, and made you feel better when you felt insecure. And most importantly, he never made you feel like a freak for what you were or where you came from, which was a fear you had when it came to the idea of any kind of relationship.

So far, it had been a series of cute ass dates, whether it was staying in to watch a movie or going to a diner or going out to some secret location Steve knew about. He even did the whole shebang where he’d come to your doorstep with flowers (and Eggos for El to get on her good side). His efforts in trying to get on Hopper’s good side were still fruitless, but you tried to reassure him not to get discouraged, because, well, it was Hopper. 

Even if he did come to like Steve, he’d shoot him a glare on purpose.

He was also becoming your closest friend, after El of course, and if you needed to vent about something or share some big news, then you felt like you could. You never had that before, not really, and it felt nice to have someone your age that you could talk to that you also happened to love making out with at the end of the night (and other times of the day). 

The bell rang across the entire school campus, signaling the end of the school day, and the start of Winter Break for the next two weeks. You perked up excitedly as students began to spill out of their classrooms and out into the front yard.

Numerous groups of friends dressed in varying kinds of cold weather attire talked animatedly as they either waited for their parents or walked to their cars. Some of them glanced at you as they whispered, and even some didn’t look at all too pleased. They knew at this point who you were: Steve “The Hair” Harrington’s mysterious new girlfriend that people only knew as Hopper’s niece.

It probably drove them crazy that they knew next to nothing about you, but you were unbothered. If anything, it amused you.

“Hey Nina!” a female voice quipped to your left.

You turned to the source and found a smiling Nancy Wheeler, standing with Jonathan Byers by his car. She was carrying her school books in one hand and waved with the other. Jonathan waved shyly too.

You grinned at them and waved back, “Hey guys!”

They got into the car together, and you turned your attention back to the front of the school. You searched through the faces for one particular boy, and when you found him, your face split into a giddy smile. And he was smiling back.

Steve’s big hair was unmistakable, even amongst a sea of hair sprayed teenagers. He was jogging down the path, into the parking lot, towards you. He was holding a book and binder in one hand. As he got closer, you slid off the roof of his car and opened your arms wide.

When he got to you, he put his arms around your shoulders and pulled you against his chest in a bear hug. You wrapped yourself around his torso and breathed in that wonderful smell of his cologne and just plain old Steve. His embrace made you warmer than the jacket around your shoulders.

He leaned back enough to see your face, and grinned.

“There’s my girl.”

You got flustered when he called you that, always without fail. He kissed you as you giggled. It was enough to make you melt on this first day of winter.

“Did you walk all the way here?” he asked when you disconnected.

“Yeah,” you said as a matter of fact. “I don’t know how to drive, nor do I have a car. Plus, it’s not that far.”

He unwrapped his hands from you, but kept holding your free hand. 

With a pointed finger he said, “We need to fix that not being able to drive thing. I could help, you know.”

“Thanks, but Hopper already offered himself up. Which I’m sure will be a disaster considering who he is.”

He tried reaching for your other hand, but stopped when he noticed the file in you were holding. He furrowed his brow and frowned.

“What’s that?”

Your heart skipped a beat, and that nervousness was back. You let go of his hand and and held the file in front of you, in between your ten fingers. Your eyes were wide and you could tell it was worrying Steve.

“It’s actually what I came to talk to you about.”

“You came to talk to me about some weird file you found?”

You rolled your eyes, “Not just any file.”

You stuck it in his direction, willing him to take it. With a confused glance at you, he took the manila folder, turned it around, and opened it. You watched him in anticipation, your bottom lip between your teeth, as he scanned the first page. And at first it didn’t seem to click, but then his eyes widened. He peered up at you again, the shock clear in his expression.

“This is you?”

You nodded, “Yeah.”

He flipped through the pages, pored over them in search for things that made sense. You knew because it was what you did, it was mostly scientific talk that you knew nothing about, but there were parts you could piece together.

You walked over to his side to get a look at the file again. He was halfway through them when he let the pages fall to the first one. The one with a picture of you, with buzzed hair, and a hospital gown. 

At a glance, it almost didn’t look like you. Not just because of the hair, but you were also younger then, and the years of experimentation had sunken in your skin. There were bags under your eyes from not being able to sleep from the visions they forced you to have.

Still, you could tell it was you. Even Steve saw it.

At the top of the page, in typed out letters, was your name. Your real name.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” he read it out loud. He regarded you now, as if making sure that the name fit.

“Guess I don’t have to find a name anymore,” you shrugged, and tried to sound light hearted despite how much the gravity of the information affected you last night, and right now.

“Where did you even find this?”

“Hopper gave it to me. He, uh, talked to the scientist that survived at the lab and may or may not have threatened him to give over the file. He thought it was only fair since El got to read hers.” You leaned back against the car dejectedly.

Steve closed the file and put it on top of the hood with his school stuff instead of giving it back to you. He sat against the car right by your side, and fixed you with a careful look.

“And? How do you feel about it?”

“Well, at first, it was like I was reliving everything. I cried about it, a lot. Hopper was there.”

The PTSD from that place gave you flashbacks that hurt just as badly as your worst visions, but in your heart. However, the worst part wasn’t the stuff you already knew, the worst part was the page about your parents. 

Where El’s mom was still alive when she found out, yours were actually dead. They were killed in an apparent car crash, that you knew was no doubt staged by everyone at the lab. It made you angry and devastated. Despite the fact that you had a feeling that they weren’t alive, it still hurt. You were ripped away from them, without a single memory to attach you, just like all the other kids at the lab.

It was the last piece of the puzzle to your past that you needed to know, and you cried about it, processed it as much as you could in a span of 16 hours.

Steve put an arm over your shoulders. “You went through some rough shit, Nina. I don’t blame you.”

“Yeah…”

“How do you feel now?” He asked after a moment.

You shrugged, still feeling sad, but stronger now.

“Now….I feel like I’ve gotten closure. Like I can finally move on from all of that.”

“You think you’re ready?” He asked more to be sure, than from doubt. “If you’re not, then that’s fine-”

“No, I am,” You nodded, “Yeah. After 17 years, I think I finally am.”

He gazed at you lovingly, and then kissed you tenderly on the forehead. By far, the best, and your favorite kind of kiss in the entire universe.

“Well, I’m proud of you,” he smiled and handed you back the file. 

Your heart soared at the words, and never took your eyes off him. “Thank you.”

He pushed off the hood and excitedly said, “And hey, you have a new name now. Your real name!”

“Y/N,” you sounded it out, trying to get familiar.

“Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Well, Y/N Hopper now since the adoption is official.”

“Right, right. Y/N Hopper,’ he crossed his arms and smirked at you. “Should I call you that now?”

“Mmmmmm,” you narrowed your eyes and hummed thoughtfully at the idea. It was strange, but not a bad strange, per se. 

El knew her name, which was Jane, but she never asked anyone close to her to call her that. For El, it was something personal that she’d keep to herself. To the rest of you, she was still El. Would you do the same, and keep calling yourself Nine? Or would you take Y/N as your new name?

Steve, unable to keep his hands away from you for very long, put them on your waist once again. You welcomed the gesture.

“Y/N,” he repeated. “Or Nine?”

You lifted a finger and said, “We’ll have to figure that out.”

***

Later that night was the night of the Hawkins Middle School Snow Ball, and you, Hopper, and El were on your way there in the Sheriff’s truck.

You glanced back at El through the rearview mirror, who had an excited smile on her face. She looked beautiful in her blue dress with pink polka dots and a matching belt. You had helped her pick it out, and even did her hair and makeup to the best of your abilities. It was her first dance ever and her first official date with Mike, so you wanted to make it as special for her as possible.

You, on the other hand, were dressed for a different, much less formal date. You were wearing a black long sleeve, high waisted jeans, and a red corduroy jacket with a shearling lining and collar. Casual attire for a casual night, as in, you and Steve were spending the night as his place to watch a movie while the kids were at the dance. 

The two of you planned on meeting each other at the parking lot of Hawkins Middle School since he was also going to be there to drop off Dustin. 

Their once odd friendship had bloomed so much since that night, and now the two were as thick as thieves. It was funny and endearing how much Steve actually cared about him, and how he genuinely saw him as a friends despite his age. Based on what you knew about Steve from before you met him, he never would’ve been friends with a kid like him, or even you.

It made you grateful to have met him at this point in his life.

Hopper turned into the parking lot of the school, and pulled into a parking spot near the front of the building. 

“Alright, El. You go in there and have fun, okay? I’ll be out here if you need me.”

You could tell he wanted to say more, to give her some rules to follow while she was in there, but he refrained from doing so. He didn’t want to ruin anything, especially not her first dance.

El nodded, and got out of the car in excitedly.

“Have fun!” you said to her before she let the door slam behind her.

You watched through the windshield as she meandered over to school gym, towards the doors. Her blue dressed flounced with every nervous step, but she was excited too.

“Good job,” you grinned at Hopper, “I thought you were going to freak out last minute or something.”

“Come on, I’m not as crazy overprotective as you think I am.”

You gave him the side-eye.

“I’m not!” he contested.

“I mean, you are getting better about it, I’ll give you that.”

“Thank you,” he gestured with his hand dramatically.

You snorted, and just then, a familiar car moved at the corner of your eye. All snarkiness left you as your face lit up at the sight of Steve’s BMW. You could see his and Dustin’s silhouettes through the driver’s side window.

“There’s your ride,” Hopper grumbled.

“Yup,” you grinned, and jumped out of the truck.

“Be back before midnight, alright?” Hopper said while you were still holding on to the door. “Stay out of trouble, and no funny business!”

You scoffed, “We’re just watching a movie at his house.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m worried,” he mumbled.

You dramatically rolled your eyes at him.

“I’ll see you back at home,” you said, and then purposefully added, “_Dad._”

The name elicited a very pleased smile from Hopper, which is what you wanted. You hadn’t used it until now, and it was something you definitely needed to get used to. You hadn’t had a dad your entire life, after all, but no one fit the title quite like him. Even if he did annoy the shit out of you sometimes.

He looked down at the steering wheel for a moment, processing, and then locked eyes with you. There were no tears, just knowing, pleasant smiles. 

He motioned you forward with his head.

“Go. Your boyfriend’s waiting.”

With a shake of your head, you slammed the door shut, and bounced over to Steve’s car. Dustin had already left to go inside, and Steve was already looking out his window at you, waiting. He watched you as you rounded around the front of the car, and slid into your spot in the passenger’s seat.

He was wearing a red sweater that looked really good on him, and his hair was in that natural state that you loved. You didn’t mind the hair sprayed look, but this one took the cake.

His face was already over the console, awaiting for you to meet him halfway.

You whispered a “Hi,” and greeted him with an eager kiss, and his hand touched your face as he kissed you back.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He sat back in his seat, put the car in drive, and started heading towards his home. When he passed Hopper’s truck, he waved at the chief in passing, and he waved back with that look of disapproval. You noticed that he had a pack of cigarettes in his hands and resisted the urge to roll down the window and yell at him for it.

While on the road, Steve remembered something.

“Oh shit, before I forget,” he said suddenly, “I got something for you. It’s in the glove compartment.”

You perked up at that, and immediately opened the glove compartment. Atop of some pieces of paper, and next to a lighter, was what looked like a small rectangular box, wrapped in red gift wrap. You closed the compartment and turned the gift over in your hands.

“It’s a little early for Christmas presents, isn’t it?”

“I know, but I figured why wait, if I could just give this one to you now?”

“‘This one’?”

_As in more than one?_

“Just open it.”

With your fingers you deftly pulled apart the shiny holiday paper until you revealed what was beneath it all. 

You gasped. It was not in fact, a box, but a plastic case with a cassette tape inside, and on the front was a simple message written in marker, and in Steve’s handwriting.

_To Nine _

_From Steve_

“I finally got around to making that mixtape I promised you,” he said.

You looked up at him in complete and utter disbelief. The day he promised to make you a mixtape, was the very first night you ever spent at his house, back when you were basically strangers to each other. He had asked you about him and Nancy’s future, and amidst that conversation he was befuddled by your lack of music knowledge.

At the time, it felt nice to have him promise you something like that, but you never thought he’d remember it, let alone actually do it.

“You remembered,” you said.

“Of course I did.” He said it like it was obvious.

You opened the case to take out the tape, but then you stopped when you read the title at the top of the cassette.

“Oh my…”

_An Awesome Mix For An Awesome Girl_

You were feeling so many emotions, you didn’t know what to do, or what to say. This was singlehandedly the sweetest, and most thoughtful gift that anyone had ever given you. The fact that he remembered, and then took the time to make it, and was so excited to give it to you that he gave it to you early? To someone else, it was probably a simple Christmas present, but not to you. 

“And that’s just volume one,” he mused.

Your lack of words seemed to make him nervous.

“Nina?” he asked, “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” you choked out.

“Really?”

“Steve,” you whipped you head to look at him now, “If you weren’t driving, I’d kiss you so hard right now.”

Without saying another word, he checked his mirrors, and then pulled over on the empty street you had been driving on. He put the car in park, rested his elbow on the steering wheel, and grinned at you, waiting expectantly.

“I’m all yours,” he said.

You laughed at him. “You’re a dork. You know that?”

“Hey, you’re dating this dork.”

“Yeah, I am.” 

You threw yourself at him, your hands grasping at the soft fabric of his sweater while you collided your lips with his. His hand went to the back of your neck, and you made out for God knows how long.

If you weren’t already sure of it after earlier that day, you were sure of it now:

You were falling hard for Steve Harrington, and fast. You just didn’t want to admit it to him yet.


End file.
